On days like this
cool, with little winds
desert birds forage for sticks
they build nests perched in cactus
some build green in palo verde trees
always I think of baby birds in spring
hatchlings, the fledglings that fly
I travel far beyond the noise of towns
watch the movement of cooling clouds
the roundness of rain upon the ground
the grey banked scurrilous skies
of hurried birds, their silhouettes before a storm
daisies that close, cold amid the stones
beneath where snakes and lizards go
slither and crawl in this landscape of saguaros
and I, ever tethered can only dream to fly.

sunshine and the bicycle move as one
threading a narrow path among the leaves
fast as wind light as feather
the asphalt flows underneath me
pushing me forward and further
past yet another sequence of streets
past yet another world for me to glimpse
leaving me as young as the man i used to be
filled with the promise of what i will never have
sketch the tale in my heart as the miles melt behind
fair haired and overflowing with joys unabated
that is what i could see from my seated adventure
faster and faster on my shiny machine
leaving behind the people and places of the past
looking forever for that bright future
in the palm of my hand