Vultures circle high in desert sunlight Crows alight on the curved saguaro spines Scalding heat sends snakes to burrow deeper Under the words that burn in barren lands Coyotes tear at decomposed ideas The sun sends a mirage just out of reach Similes like the smile of spiders Crawl in psyches yet leave no web to see Growing canyons form the earth between us Rivers now dry upon the sands of time Windswept plains whip tumbleweeds along them Rolling along infinitely to dust Vultures now descend into the valley Ready to consume all that which remains