The spine bone and the yucca dry
in the sun a shadow cuts
of an eagle circling overhead
whose shriek the canyon echoes.
New grass blunts the stab,
but the gravel slope holds shallow roots
and the desert waits, the winter stream
must drain into the sand.
So light drips down the canyon wall
the raptor's blue eye circumscribes,
shining green of river, red of clay
and brown scrub trembling in fear.
The eagle tucks its wings, and dives.