Desert Ignites Awakening
At dawn the sun ignites the desert,
a sudden flash of light,
a golden-red exposes the land:
cactus, snake bush, miles of sagebrush,
jeweled flowers, spiked yucca aflame,
and the wind-shaped boulders radiant.
For a moment, a shining glow over all, then it passes.
The desert remains, patiently,
silent, no signs of human life.
Wide and expansive,
more than the eye can consume,
it awes the mind into gentle submission
and opens the senses to wonder.
The flat sparse land stretches out
like an ocean to brown undulating hills and in the remote distance,
a mirage of snowcapped mountains.
The desert ignites awakening
whatever its mood;
still and contained, no waste or profusion
it stands bare and essential,
alive.
About the Author
Louis Vanrenen has published the books Bioenergetic Medicines East and West: Acupuncture and Homeopathy, co-authored by Clark A. Manning (North Atlantic Books, 1993), and Power Herbs: A Practical Guide to 50 Healing Herbs from the East & West (JP Tarcher/Penguin, 2000). He did his premed work at the University of Colorado and graduated from the New England School of Acupuncture. He has been an acupuncturist for over thirty-five years. For many years he has enjoyed poetry, starting in Colorado where he studied with people like Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs at the Naropa Institute.
