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recalled from late summer 2007
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the rocks were vicious, silently beckoning our feet to follow. and they seemed to go on for days.
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i remember struggling to push my fear aside as i lept from one to the other to keep up.
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our stomachs were empty and our bodies exhausted, but we were finally here. our destination more vast and unreal than could ever have been imagined, engulfing us in its silent wonder. the cracking open of a cool beer seemed to echo for eternity. closing my eyes i can still hear it now, clear as day. a cold brew slithering down my throat best enjoyed divulging my senses in the purity of nature.
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i feel nature reaches out to speak:
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come as you are for i am as i am and will continue to be.
scrub the paint from your eye, smash the mask to your soul,
lie naked in my purity and i will bathe you in something real.
my green children slash your skin
as barefoot, you go forward in my midst,
giggling as you spit curses from dry lips.
walk me long and far and your skin would grow raw and not feel this pain,
as raw your soul should be to repel all the pain in your plastic world.
i am here, i am what is real.
my air waltzes to caress your skin,
i draw a salted bath to heal your wounds and sing you to sleep as it breaks.
in darkness my stars will show you the way.
you may abandon your life of meaningless voids and man-made obligation.
i offer a desert plateau upon which your body may rest one night,
and one day i will sob for you as you soak through and tremble.
i will remind you who you really are.
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the sky that night was indescribable. i felt such beauty must be sacred. a swirling phenomena of smoldering colour and cloud. i was speechless. in awe. terrified. as though on spiritual ground. i hardly wanted to move, even blink, for fear i may never again witness a sight so powerful. my camera mysteriously broke just as the sun began to set and i remember clutching our beers and knowing that not even a picture would ever describe these monstrous visions in the clouds. the colors melting in and around one another and the impending doom of thousands of feet of sillouhetted rock. for the rest of our lives no one would ever know how incredible the scene being painted in our vision was. nature seemed to whisper that this was our little secret tonight.
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barely a soul for hundreds of miles. only a few others scattered nearby. all silent. hushed, even the caramel skinned children who moments before had been running in circles shouting feverishly in spanish with the innocence of pure and uncontrollable youth.
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i knew a year and a half ago sitting outside our tent that night, that i would frustrate myself with the words to write about it.
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what i saw. entwined with how i felt...
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a chill is running up my spine even now. to the handful that night lying in the desert sand, it was a true gift. a secret. i surrender my words and in exchange that vision and that feeling forever will remain branded to my soul. and maybe one day i will find it again.
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