To the French couple whose lives were claimed on August 4, 2015 by the desert on the Alkali Trail, White Sands National Monument, New Mexico,

Of this flown away couple
Whose existence was stolen
In the winds of a dry desert
Remember, arid earth
Their last journey
Their tired faces
Trudging, panting
Walking, they kept walking
They were your children
France, they were parenting
And in the landscape
Their image reunited
With the hills far away

With those who passed away
In the winds of a dry desert
In the New Mexico
Of an arid America

They keep on walking
Their remote memory
On this long, long path
Looking for some glory
A futureless glory…

August 12, 2015
Lyon, France