The Spanish called it the “desert dagger,”
Isote de desierto — Mormons
May have given it the biblical name.
One name implies a dangerous swagger,
The other a religious leader’s palms.
To the tree they are one and the same.
A desert, already half dead, can die.
It needs frost and water, but not too much.
I walk from tree to tree to tree and try
To reach high up enough and lightly touch
The dark green tapered and serrated leaves.
I often prick fingers, sometimes draw blood
(The pain doesn’t know and yet it believes) —
A drop in the sand releases a flood.
My book of the first 200 of these sonnets is now available for purchase. Click here:
