Vermilion

Land stretched below his feet
Cliff face, broken and craggy
Stands like a solid barrier
Hundreds of feet it drops away
Stones the size of houses, of buses
Tumble like so many pebbles
Trapped in time
In the scree at the base of the cliff
Fantastic, impossible colors
Red and orange and purple and white and yellow
Rust and watermelon and cotton candy and seashell
He sees this all
His eyes scintillated
The sunlight sparkles on a million
Reflective
Facets glistening in the sun
At the bottom, at the base
The land begins again
Reaching out in a desert hard pan
Alkali flat
Sagebrush and Juniper and Pinon
On and on
The wind whistles in his ears
In the dusky predawn light
His soul, like the expanse of the land
Like the expanse of the sky
Leaves his body
But remains tethered
Like his feet remain on the ground
As his spirit soars
With the red tailed hawk
Circling