saguaro sunset

(February 2022. Leaving Tonopah Arizona for Joshua Tree.)

many arms wave goodbye
saguaro silhouettes
surrounded by sunset
black shadows saluting
the sky orange and i
loathe to leave the saguaros
to go west to lesser cacti

i have not listened long
enough to their speech,
their slow sentences
water straining to learn

but i must go i must go
my world moves much faster

i trust they will still speak
when i return— the end of april,
beginning may, i say now,
i promise i will return
to harvest the sacred fruit
of long surviving sentences.

from their perspective
i’ll be back in a flash.

they will wait for me.

their joy is waiting.