Green and Red

Sugar Creek, Shades State Park, Indiana

Near Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

I live in a green land Many rainy days feed sheltering forests Wind spreads the seeds A stream carries rain to waiting ponds Damp soil covered with plants Geologic time hidden underneath Mice scurry between the bushes Seeking refuge from the cold White-tailed deer leap through the woods Fearless because their predators are gone Towering white oak trees Grow quickly Providing nutrients to animals and man Through the centuries The oak's value is now seen as lumber To be made into furniture and floors The forest is alive, beautiful, valuable It must not be wasted

I went to a red land Bright sun feeds small shrubs Wind spreads the seeds A stream quenches lush cottonwoods Rocky canyon walls show their stripes Eons of time preserved in stone Lizards scurry between the boulders Seeking respite from the sun Bighorn sheep drink deeply and scale Sheer cliffs, away from human eyes Twisted bristlecone pine trees Grow slowly Recording weather and history In their rings, over millennia The bristlecone's value is now known A tool to measure the passage of time The desert is alive, beautiful, valuable It must not be wasted