Dust And Smoke

A blend of dust and smoke

The sky swept white with both

Mountains shrouded in the mist

Of sand and burning timber

The alkali particles coming north

From some seventy miles away

White Sands coming to see us

Whether we want it to or not.

The smoke comes off the Gila

The Wilderness on fire yet again

Fanned by the winds

Carried one hundred and fifty miles

To my doorstep

With the gusts heading east.

My breathe is shallow today

Hunkered here on my porch

Grateful for the clarity of air

Somehow closer in

And thankfully so distant

From the worst of the fire and the sand.

I hope the wind lies still

At sunset.