Caves of Sanora-Halo Lake

clouds of breath billow
crisp air marks the fall equinox
stark branches paint portraits in the clouds
rustling leaves caress broken branches abandoned
on rolling hillsides brushed by sunlit splendor

a dark crevice yawns
the descent begins
beneath the roots
into the flesh of mother earth
pungent and moist the darkness calls
promising revelation of sights unseen

helmets bring light to caverns of crystal and lime
the drip drop sing song of rivulets
babble to blind fish and supersonic bats
stalagmites stagger between streams of clear water
arching majestically into daggered concavity
threatening mortality

i crawl through layers of epidermal earth
passages and galleries that separate
chasms of dark promise
the faint sound of nightmares clamor
just beyond the light

cold cool earth smells like home
melds with skin
brown against brown
promising a return to her component elements
an oath of reintegration

crumbling

disintegrating

falling through time and space
engulfed by elemental forces
held in her dark and wondrous grasp

behold

skin breaks and buds peek through
photosynthesized by darkling light
reminescent of day
flowers burst into life
purple blue and green with vibrant energy
verdant and fecund prana flows
away from life-giving sun

thoughts slow with turpid regurgitations
black presses in circumscribing movement
awareness expands
flies free of the body
widening in concentric rings of being
meeting earthworm and insect
the atomic structure of eternity
life and death circle ever in motion
fluctuations of state signal cyclic understandings
conscious belonging permeates the void
purposeful and brilliant with glory


sound intrudes upon the silent song
fingers grasp dirt and rock
light beckons
firm hands grip weathered roots
and i rise
back into the light
the evening sun crests upon the horizon
spears of light illuminate oceanic heights
bearing solemn witness
to earth's stately passage
through heaven's court