The sun sets over the desert tonight,
And darkness spreads over the sky.
The saguaro stands tall as a witness,
To the struggle of life and of death.
Red rocks are framed black,
Against the crimson sun.
The cougar lurks in the shadows,
Unseen and ready to spring.
Clouds of chittering bats take to the skies,
Hundreds to drink sweet nectar all night.
The moon rises, the sun vanishes,
As the desert sinks into cold night.
The coyote sings an eerie song,
Black against the silver moon.
Tortoises return to their burrows,
Dug deep into the earth.

The world sleeps,
The world wakes.
The world turns,
Traveling through space and time.
Eons pass.
Mountains rise.
Valleys form.
Oceans come and go.
And I stir slowly,
I, the being who has slumbered,
For ten thousand years.
Finally I rise in the night,
Turn my head to face the stars.

They've changed.

-- Citrakayah

Written 2010