Recently I spent a week in Colorado at a dude ranch with my 13 year old nephew (subject of the next post).  The ranch was very family oriented and like similar places the evenings are filled with scheduled activities.  The week, which spans Sunday to Saturday, traditionally closes out on Friday night with a gathering around a campfire and the presentation cowboy poetry. (And as a bonus- S’mores!)  The one requirement that we had as guests, as we found out at dinner on Sunday shortly after arriving, was that by Friday everyone, no matter their age, had to present a piece of cowboy poetry at the campfire on Friday.  No explanation of what comprised “Cowboy Poetry” was given so basically we were given cart blanche to interpret the requirement however we wanted.  Over the course of the next few days as I was horseback riding and simply enjoying the out-of-doors in the beauty that is Colorado the following poem came to me.  I am not sure it can be called a poem in the true sense of the word as it does not rhyme nor contain any of the traditional metrics against which typically poetry is measured, but I thought I would share it anyway.  It was a bit of a different kind of adventure–delving into the land of the literary!  Here it is:

————-

The Earth spins around and as sunset creeps up a beautiful rainbow of blue unfolds,

sky blue, light blue, royal blue, blue, navy blue, dark blue, midnight blue, blue-purple, purple-blue, purple-brown, brown, black,

passing magically in front of me but gone in an instant only to return the next revolution more vivid than before,

the same but yet wonderfully different, varied time and time again.

The Colors of Life.

High on a mountain in an aspen forest a faint breeze tickles the leaves.

The trees whisper to each other, calm, soothing.

Mother Earth draws a breath, the breeze turns into a gale, roaring through the forest and across the mountain,

a voice raised in might with unintelligible words, yet a voice majestic and present.

The Sounds of Life.

In a newly turned field with the hot sun beating down a faint hint of moisture rises,

damp, musty smells, a trace of a metallic presence barely detectable,

smells of things living, smells of things decaying, small things undetectable to the eye.

The Odors of Life.

Earth: The Living Planet

—————