poems A DESERT POEM
I walked off the highway,
back behind the beer-bottle line,
among the rabbit tracks and the sidewinder trails,
back in the winter sand - barefoot -
looking out for miles, beyond eternity
and the grey hills bronzed by the setting sun,
in the wind and the silence, wishing we were gone
and our shacks had fallen to ruin
so our grandchildren could hear tales
of the settlers who tried to make it here
when the land was still untamed,
and who left
because they didn't want to make a garden
out of the garndeur of God's desert
or an oasis out of the sand.
People are not the only owners of the land,
nor trees the only expression of God--
so are devil's claw and the tumbleweed,
the creatures of night and the big-horned sheep.
The whip-tailed lizard sticks out his tongue
at our presumption to garnish the land.
He laughs when our wells run dry
and the moon sets from an empty sky.......
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My Daughter
I set here each day-by myself wondering?
What's the use in going on?
And then a thought of you, comes to mind.
You take away the feelings of emptiness,
And lonliness,
And make my lonely life have purpose.
THANK YOU--for being my daughter.
Love Dad.............
James Patrick West
All rights reserved copyright@20002 James Patrick West
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You Never Knew
You never knew
You could never know
What I could give
What I would not show
I could not allow
Because of thought
The love inside
To be brought out
So I hold
Within my heart
The love you have shown
The you I am without
James Patrick West
All rights reserved copyright@2002 James Patrick West
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