A smoggy haze rolled in this morning
muting the landscape
that evokes thirsty feet trudging
across hot rocks,
desperate and uncaring about ancient
oceans, moonscapes, spaghetti westerns.
We drove our rented Corolla south,
stopped at Mules Ears and Castolon,
read some history at the visitors’ center —
Mexican workers paid in scrip,
limited to two buckets
of purchased water per day.
We read park warnings,
trails used by people
who are not sightseeing.
The stately Rio Grande flowed
through the Santa Elena gorge,
between towering walls that shot back
our voices raised in two part harmony.
Later, the glorious setting sunlight
crossed over from Mexico,
brought rocks and mountains to life, then
morphed into the limpid amber
border between
day and night,
and dissolved.
— Emily DeFerrari
Emily DeFerrari is a practicing midwife in a local hospital and lives in Point Breeze.
First Published: April 8, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
