Photo by Christopher Raley

Long Dirt Road

Behind my house
a long dirt road
follows the canal
yearning westward
from city to orchard.

As I walked it,
each day a little farther
with eyes trained
on Pacific range,
birds swept the sky
(black forms streaming in blue)
to the tangled heads
of trees carefully aligned.

Birds chirped and chattered
and screeched and babbled.
Then at once
and with one
unknown instinct,
all were silent.

My footsteps remained
the dull metronome
of recovery.