Sitting here in the Great White North watching the snow and the temperature falling and feeling my mind drifting back from an email slide show from an old friend and Brother Mason. Having put most of what I have left far from my mind, has sometimes come back and has me closing my eyes in remembrance of some of those places I have been and spent time in back in the High Desert plains I came from.
 

Standing here in Aguirre Springs ** roughly a quarter way up a trail, and hearing the wind blowing through the trees as I pause and look out on the vast valley below. Adjusting the bush hat I’m wearing as I look out towards the Missile range and shift my gaze to the left, seeing the white spot in the distance where White Sands *** lies out on the horizon, and feeling memories come forth unbidden as I stand here in the shadow of the Organ Mountains. And then turning to look to the end of the trail to those far off forested areas where I am headed.

Making my way upward through the trees and cactus that follow the spring bed, slowly heading up to the pines up above to where the trail loops back to the beginning from the spring’s source. And having memories of times past spent here in the surrounding area begin to take hold as my mind drifts, as I continue upwards in this dark light of the summer sun and passing blackened trees standing like pickets And finding myself wondering as I continue onward and upward if you’ll ever call my name?

The sight of White Sands in the distance has me drifting back to when Highway 61 called once, and took me by the wrist and directed me through that shifting sea of dunes that’s there. As I stood there one night alone on the crest of a dune with starlight filling my eyes looking to the horizon, I heard you come up from behind, and I turned just as you were about to speak and break the silence. Which caused me to whisper back at you to whisper to me all the names of the stars that are wheeling overhead.

Just as the full moon began to rise making all seem as if all was both in daylight instead of the middle of the night, as I stood there watching your eyes and taking the measure that’s there as I see the reflection of starlight and moonlight there, as you stand there doing the same as a light breeze feathers your hair. Now feeling the memory shift as I find myself deep in those highlands I carry in my heart.

Now following that trail up towards the Sandy Point area and knowing in reality that I’m not there, as I know I am seeing through the smoky fires in my mind’s eye that meadow that stands a quarter of the way there. And being able to overlook all down below and where Willow Creek runs high up in that highland forest as I picture you. Standing there as the sun’s dark light is filtered through the trees and those eyes I see the reflection of all, and though I might be dirty mean and unworthy at times as we stand in my sacred place knowing all is right.

Stopping as I wipe the sweat from my brow as the sun’s dark light pounds down on me here in Aguirre Springs, I have finally had the beginnings of the pines as the trail gets steeper and feeling my muscles burn. As I look down seeing the valley below and remember the last time I was here and climbed the trail, and now wondering if this is the final time I will ever come here as well and see all with these tired eyes? Time is fleeting, and I know I need to make that final journey north and to you waiting there.

Noticing the shadows are soon to be on me as I climb higher into the pines, and wondering if I am finally saying goodbye to these places and the ghosts that echo here? For I have come to the reality that a chapter is drawing to a close and life needs to be lived elsewhere. So I’ll head deeper into those deep shadows that are descending from the mountain peaks nearby, and make the full circle that the trail will describe and carry all in those smoking fires of the mind.

* Sundance= An American Indian ritual that is to instill one with strength and power.

** Aguirre Springs lies at the base of the Organ Mountains in Southern New Mexico near White Sands Missile Range.

***White Sands national monument is 875 miles of pure gypsum and is considered to be one of the natural wonders of the world able to be seen by satellites and from manned missions in space.

Copyright July 2008 - 11: Timberwolf International LTD.