PART I: ARIZONA I MAN above himself looks down upon himself, vast desert sea, self encircling self, wild horizon, torment sea, seething peak upon peak, writhing spray, infested sky, eternal tempest. Man's life is irrupted with the tragedy of self, indelible shadows, ravaged chasms of the heart. Man above himself looks down upon himself. Soul knows not body; body knows not soul. II DRAGON-LIKE Plateau, dragon among a multitude of dragons, bareboned reptiles bleaching in the sun, Life is a skeleton-land over which are hovering reflections, past and future fulfillments, clinging raiments of old desires, spread in full blaze upon the bones of the dead. So we return clothed with knowledge. III GIANTS have done their utmost here, unfathomable wilderness. O, depth within, below mortal comprehension, doth Nature appoint thy semblance here? Proclaimeth she our identity strewn upon her mortal sands? We ourselves are witness of our deeds, calm visage of despair awaiting our own fall. IV WONDERFUL night sky flushing high above me, darkling sapphire, thou thrustest flaming stars, living diamonds--depths gleaming through crystal blue! Dark heart of fire thou--cravest--me! I cannot reach thee. Thou hast come down. Lo, Love's Omnipotence! V IN the heart of the Saguaro forest, ancient tribe, stands a carcass, stark and dry, stripped of its green mantle, bared of flesh, vulture-eaten, skeleton against the sky, reminding the passerby of eternity and man's short hour. VI INTO the giant saguaro brave birds have bored their way to safety. High up in the strong-armed barbed saguaros they have made their nests, invincible ones. Who is safer than he who builds his home of thorns? The coward fears the prick of Fate, not he who dares all, becoming himself the dreaded one: --forever sentinel to those who fear him. VII ONE moment--Earth is thrilled again; the cup of life glows red. The Universe partakes the draught thereof. Almighty Nature holds us one and all enthralled. Love's fire colors once our neutral form, to blacken to eternal embers. VIII I NO longer hold myself; wine of the air I am. My soul breathes unto night a thousand answers to the stars. I combine in me with night a full acknowledgment, a sky as vast, a sky above--in me. IX GREAT circle, Life's horizon, vast rim, mountain peaks, colossal Cup, thou art offered to the sky! O, quenchless Beyond, thou drawest man to thy lips! X HOW wonderful to lie under the hovering of night on the top of the world, face to face with the universe--held in the Desert's offering hand, confined only by the fingered mountain peaks! How wonderful to gaze into the eyes of night, to be the gift of Nature to the sky, to live one moment beyond one's own confine, speaking gratitude to the vask sky! XI DAWN! Thou hast every possibility of life! What canst thou not reveal to man in thy flaming sky? Enough thou sayest, to recreate a world of men. Blind are we. How many of us read thy words aright? We pass them by, cold letters, divining not the fire of eternal life behind them burning. Dawn, thy opportunity is full! We, alas, know not the meaning of thy gorgeous page. Dazed we watch thy letters pale; cold embers, left upon the sky; Life's opportunity flickering into naught. From too little faith no knowledge comes. XII O LAVA stream once thou wert hot, a molten vein--now thou art cold--still--a blackened death. Was it Earth's venomous effort to lay waste the enfolded land? Did she strive to free herself and break her captive bond? Will she arise some day clothed in flame, freed of her body here? Earth, thou ancient sufferer, art thou immortal too? XIII THE fullness of night's gaze is upon me. I am given to the stars. O, the power of those eyes! Nature draws me into her farthermost realm; the whole heaven absorbs me. XIV DESERT moon; immersed in thee I rise, petty tread of life deserted! There is no path for me; my feet fly the trackless solace of the heavens, nor mark my way; the Universe my expanse, with thee great soul of night. XV GREAT rose flaming on the mountain peak; thy petals one by one, falling, fade. Thou art blown; a headless stalk, sweet memory of Life's long day. So we outlive our one moment of ecstasy. XVI TALL, white-faced Poppies, your leaves and stalks are a mass of prickles. O, monsters, big and small, ye have taken armored clothing. Here is a land where individuals abound. They know their rights. They have found themselves; --bare souls, each paying with his own earnings, Life, for greater life. XVII DAWN, creator, thou enfoldest--vision of life upon my heart. I awake; my love fills the world. Who bringeth light is my magnet. Dawn, thou flame! Urgent explosive day! Fire of unfailing worth! Thy flash assures hidden clarity. He who loveth, knoweth the inner sun; he see'th Life's blaze. XVIII AN AMBER spire, rising higher and higher against purple mountains; the desert vents herself, her fury flaring to the sky. We make ourselves inventions of evil doings, a fire quickly blazed, a little smoke. Evil endures a moment's flush, and then--leaves but a burnt out shell. XIX O FLORESCENT desert, butterfly's wing takes its hue from thee. Birds dye their feathers deep in thy bloom, finding in thee their own color. Love finds love in the equivalent heart. PART II: GRAND CANYON XX IN the heart of Earth I am throbbing, her life stream bearing me on. I thrill with her breathing, her vitality! Enshadowed, I am participating in the draught of Hell. At the depth of Earth's dark pit I am. What a gash she hath made! Black walls enclose me. Earth's tormented breast my living tomb. Black river of torture, writhing senselessly, whirlpool of life, in vain I search thee for one moment's rest. Whither goest thou, overflow of life? XXI I HAVE seen the struggling river of the under-world, the incessant outpouring of Earth's self. The heart of Earth penetrates the sea. She knew not why or where she went, a vent of self to larger self. XXII THE DEPTH of the canyon is in me, I am of it. It is I. Life created me of her whole. Mine eyes see my soul, my soul of the depth of things. What I see is what I am, what I see mine. I see what my soul bringeth. In darkness I am vast. I encompass space. My soul createth magnitude. I am that I am--space. I fear not my soul. My soul interpreteth life, and to life returneth; for it is in the nature of things that what one giveth cometh back in full measure. The emptied space refilleth with equal strength, not like in kind but in degree. Life developeth him who giveth life. XXIII EACH peak in the canyon is a different shade, separate, one of a whole. Silence ringeth its utter depth of silence. Great is thy voice, O, Nature; in one note thou hast endless tones, each a color in harmony with the whole! O canyon, Earth's dumb symphony, thou expressest the glory of silence; thou hast colored indeed thy notes. Looking on thee, I hear thy fathomless Silence. XXIV THE crescent-shaped horizon outlines the canyon, unperturbed. Below lies the river, a mighty power, writhing to find itself. The crescent horizon is unconcerned; another self below consciousness is carving its way to freedom. Of many selves and opposites are we. XXV HERE could one exist on the brink of disaster, yet conscious of its depth. He who knoweth formeth insoluble expenditure; he who avoideth sinketh ever deeper into the pit that endeth not. Give heed to the voice that calleth, lest a day cometh when thou wilt hear no more, when thou findest not. Then shalt thou be left as the soul that weareth no knowledge and counteth as naught. XXVI RAPTUROUS Dawn is calling the mountains to follow her. One moment--and she has gone her way. Death's embers lie, spent sheet enshrouding them. The mountains stand spectre of their fire.