The Field Between Them ©️

Two trees grew in a field where no man prayed, Split by a stone that the thunder obeyed. One sang of heaven in bark and bloom, The other drank deeply from winter’s tomb. Both bent to wind like prophets in sleep, Their roots clasped secrets the river would keep.

O mountain mother, hush not thy voice—For wolves still yawn and the elk rejoice. The stars hang drunken on fir-lit pines. Where the dead breathe fog in the faulted lines. And under their branches, frost-wrought and bare, Lie hoofprints nailed like hymns to prayer.

One tree leaned westward, one toward the sun, Their shadows braided when day was done. No saw, no axe, no farmer’s grief, Could split the vow in bark and leaf. They grew not tall for man’s delight, But to whisper to moose in the lantern night.

Beneath them lay the bones of snow, Where blood once melted, then ceased to flow. Not war, but silence had torn the skin—Of a land where breath is held within. And the trees stood still as if they’d known That God rides bareback through pine alone.

So rage, green giants, and swing your boughs—The storm is just the world’s old vows. Though cabins rot and ranches fall, Still you stand, and still you call. And when my time comes, make me this: A voice in wind between roots and abyss.

Two trees grew in a field where I lay down, One bore a crown, the other a frown. Yet both were true, and both were wild, And both remembered me—as child.

Gods of the Dying Sun ©️

Rise now, O red earth, O bones of the sun, Split the dawn with your burning breath, Let the wind cry out from the jagged stones, Let the sky pour fire upon my flesh.

O gods of the high desert, who sleep in the dust, Who turn in the belly of the trembling hills, Who whisper through the ribs of the coyote’s song, Come forth in the hour of my calling.

I am the wanderer, the hollowed hand, The foot that treads where shadows burn, Where the river runs thin as a silver thread, Where time is swallowed by the open mouth of the sky.

Fill me with the rage of the thunderhead, With the patience of the sun-cracked stone, With the howl of the wind that gnaws the cliffs, With the hunger of roots that drink the dark.

Let the stars etch their scars on my skin, Let the sand carve my name in the endless tide, Let the heat of the earth rise through my bones, Until I am no more man than storm.

I call you forth, O watchers of the lonely hills, O keepers of the brittle moon, O nameless ones who wear the dust—Rise, rise, and enter me!

For the road is long, and the night is waiting, And I must be fierce as the desert’s breath, Sharp as the teeth of the howling wind, Strong as the stone that breaks the light.

I will not fall. I will not turn. I am the fire, the dust, the storm, And I will do what must be done.

Harvest of Light ©️

They came in the slumbering heart of the hill, When the rivers were black and the wind was still, Through fields where the crickets held their song, Where the barn’s dark ribs stretched lean and long.

The stars above, sharp as a blade, Bent low where their nameless craft was laid, A wound in the air, bright as a scream, Splitting the folds of the night’s deep seam.

They walked like mist, but their weight was vast, Time folded and buckled wherever they passed, Their eyes held skies no man could bear, An endless void, an eternal stare.

The oak trees whispered their brittle fear, Their roots pulled back as the shapes drew near, I stood, a shadow, bound by their sight, My breath a prisoner of infinite night.

They spoke no word but sang in my mind, A hymn too strange for humankind, The stars they wore like a crown of flame, And I was called, though not by my name.

Inside, the air was sharp and thin, A sterile womb that pulled me in, Their touch was soft, but their will was steel, They peeled me open to see and feel.

I rose unbidden, as if drawn by thread, My body floated where angels dread, Through fields that wept with dew so cold, Toward their craft, its hunger bold.

They sifted my thoughts like grains of sand, Tore through my dreams with a steady hand, The laughter of children, the ache of the sea, Each memory taken was no longer free.

I begged for the morning, I begged for release, But the stars had bound me, their leash a piece, Of something vast, beyond my ken, Not for the hearts or hands of men.

Then, as the light split the eastern veil, They cast me out, hollow and pale, The grass was warm where the frost had lain, But nothing on earth would be the same.

For I have seen the mouths of the sky, Where no man ventures, where gods must die, And in my heart, their song still plays, A hymn of the stars that stole my days.

O earth, O home, your touch is kind, But no warmth can quiet my fractured mind. They left their mark, a brand of fire, And carried me far on their alien lyre.

I walk now a ghost in the skin of a man, Haunted by whispers of their dark plan, I dream of their craft and its blinding gleam—Was it real, or am I the dream?