Crawl through granite and cedar

where wind and sun bake clean.

Sit where silence rules wind,

a road three thousand feet below,

spotted blue lakes beyond.

Look out to flatland extending

as far as imagination carries

yet that distance is no farther

than the hope and fear

we allow inside our hearts.

When life is battled and bottled

take your bruises to the mountain,

rest in cedar shade until color

of granite pinkens your gills,

know the heart will soon follow.

From Margaritas & Redfish
(Lamar UP, 2013).
Used here with the author's permission.