Conscious Cowboy


Lost and turned around, I watched shimmering lights.
A distant town slipped through the intense heat.
A red sky from the desert floor.

So long I walked on this jaded road,
a moving caravan as west as Black Hole
as deep as Snake River Canyon.

They all look alike, drawing you in,
with their carnival lights
the summer colors of Santa Fe.

Painted ladies sing to my heart
twitching and stirring the loneliness
deep at the bottom of an unforgiving heart.

What I thought was blood
smells more like wine pushing through these veins
an effort to hide all that falls behind me.

Leaving me cold in the desert night
lurking against the ebony chill to stir empty sentiment
in the hours, where sleep cannot find peace.

Slower than the seconds turn to hours
that in turn becomes years,
all my good intentions are sentimentally lost in time.

God above, find this lost soul.

See me open the morning sky
sailing faster to live in the heart of my good intentions
dropping it through the days of tomorrow.

Swiftly across the landscape, wild only to the sun,
A distance measured in daylight shadows
trying tenaciously to slow the great winged bird.

There he is alive and free in flight.
Not a sound to the earth below
or a breath to the sky above.

Wild only to the sun,
revered in the hearts of those empty faces
walking the streets in these carnival towns.

Look up!
Look up and see the possibilities
hidden in the red sky.