I kneel in ochre sand and stone
Where Opuntia spreads her crown
The compass claims its basalt throne
No magnetic pull can hold it down
Silver needle in the light
Guides me through the mesquite night
Pointing where the roots go deep
Where desert secrets wake and sleep
Larrea tridentata stands
Her resin scent on warming air
The needle trembles in my hands
But holds its course without a care
Silver needle in the light
Guides me through the mesquite night
Pointing where the roots go deep
Where desert secrets wake and sleep
Atriplex drinks the morning dew
Her salt glands glitter on the leaf
The compass shows a bearing true
Beyond the canyon's jagged grief
No map can chart the mycorrhizal thread
Where hyphae bind the living and the dead
But magnetite remembers every turn
The way the iron learns to yearn
Now shadows stretch on sandstone walls
The needle glints in amber haze
I read the land the desert calls
Through Saguaro's ribs I gaze
Silver needle in the light
Guides me through the mesquite night
Pointing where the roots go deep
Where desert secrets wake and sleep
Silver needle in the light
Guides me through the mesquite night
Pointing where the roots go deep
Where desert secrets wake and sleep
True north blooms where nothing sleeps
Silver needle, hold me steady
In this ground where I am ready
