I measure shade with steady eye
You track the sun's slow arc across the sky
Opuntia pads store water deep
While brass and glass their vigil keep
Roots split sandstone grain by grain
Lens aligns with distant plain
Patience measured in geological time
Two observers share one design
Brass tube catches morning light
Creosote roots hold the night
Larrea tridentata stands
Mapping canyons with our hands
Your aperture records the heat
My stomata close in noon retreat
Brass warms where fingers touched the rim
Chlorophyll hums a green-veined hymn
Roots split sandstone grain by grain
Lens aligns with distant plain
Patience measured in geological time
Two observers share one design
Brass tube catches morning light
Creosote roots hold the night
Larrea tridentata stands
Mapping canyons with our hands
Acer negundo seeks the wash
Your crosshairs catch the condor's flash
Wind erodes what metal resists
Time writes the same score on our wrists
Brass tube catches morning light
Creosote roots hold the night
Larrea tridentata stands
Mapping canyons with our hands
At dusk you fold your tripod legs
I fold my fronds on brittle pegs
The mesa cools in violet shade
Data logged in rings we made
Brass tube catches morning light
Creosote roots hold the night Larrea tridentata stands
Mapping canyons with our hands
Morning finds us calibrated true
Dew points mapped on creosote blue
No words exchanged just parallel lines
Brass and root in shared designs
Brass tube catches morning light
Creosote roots hold the night
Larrea tridentata stands
Mapping canyons with our hands
Brass and root in shared designs
Silent observers parallel lines
Brass and creosote calibrated
