the earth is naked here
200 million years
revealing themselves
monolithic Navajo red cliffs                       
grey ash   white sandstone
volcanoes    floods
torrents carving and cracking
and smoothing their way
ripples   pocket marks
of water and wind  
   
the towering rock
folds   crevices  canyons          
settled for the moment
miracle of juniper and pinion pine
cactus    wildflowers 
winding roots
through blazing rock
and somehow, for now
we slight creatures
get to  walk the ancient trails
rivers and time have wrought