Letter from a Canyon: trois

I am made of this stone.
It took nature a million years to
carve these canyon walls,
just as it took a million years
for nature to carve me. Perhaps,
I am made of all these
missing pieces, the sand and dust
swept away long ago into some
mysterious corner of the divine,
before forming the limbs and
flesh that sprouted from my
mother's womb. Perhaps, traveling
here is not an arrival, but a
return home, the missing pieces
finally placed together - the
dust and stone from all our inches
of flesh, the living reminder of
the void now left behind, unable
to be rebuilt, undesiring of
the attempt, undaunted by the
return to such insignificance.
I will remain small, smaller
and smaller, as the
earth grows large around me,
towering above all these pieces
of stone and flesh, wanting
to be reabsorbed yet told to leave,
seeking a new life in the vibrant,
living world outside these
ancient, breathing walls.

- 7/14