East of Exit 43

I woke up today miles away from a love laced with pain

Bought a bottle of Bombay just to pour it down the drain

Cruised east on I-80, twenty-eight miles to exit 43

Where I found a place called home inside of me

It stretches as far as the eye can see

I stepped out upon an old lake basin.

The ground of silt cracked like dry skin.

A humbling connection to the earth beneath my

feet. I imagine ancient wisdom buried beneath.

Small Spring streams evaporate into the air,

summoning ghosts who dance in harmony until vanishing

into the sunrise. They leave behind a smooth surface in

stripes along the basin. I envision the night sky,

the stars luminosity pioneering through eternal

desert sand. Etching a blueprint at my feet.

I imagine my soul floating into the sunset;

Dancing for as long as possible along sand.

The moment I realized my life had begun,

Ticking clock hands began taunting me.

Perhaps this is why I find comfort in the desert's starkness.

There is something healing within in its rare simplicity.

Something resilient in its gritty, relentless, livelihood.

Its magical, the way nature absorbs frantic thoughts.

The landscape before me feels so unfamiliar,

Even more so, it feels ingrained within me.

A nourishing reminder that

nothing is truly ours for taking.

The present moment is all we have.

Living outside of this very moment,

we build fears. Fears of lack, solitude,

and un-satiated desires. We start to

focus on attainments and destinations.

But we are not human-doers or be-ers.

We are human-beings designed to embrace all that is.

I sit in awe, as I relish in the limitless depth embodied by oneself.

I found a home in my soul, where youth escapes the old.

Where I am forever a child living in awe and wonder,

Collecting tokens of wisdom within each precious moment,

and handing them upward to my minds eye.