Canyon Valentine

Hug the carven scarlet earth,
The zigs and zags of water’s edge on
Cragged canyon walls
From damming up the flow
Of rivers longing
For the sea, the tidal ocean swell.

We want it how we want it:
A red red desert gullied with
A thousand esses, curves and crags
That we erased to make a lake
Where there was none.

This is our earthy venous network,
Our anatomy. We made the reservoir.
We are the consternation that creates
Mistaken cities and ironic crops
Begotten by a single daylight wish.

We must live long enough
To restore
The wild unpatterned ecstasy
Of earlier erosion.
We must be Cupid’s arrow
To reunite the canyons,
To heal their hearts’ embrace.