The Najd

 

A landscape commanded by the sun

whose hands manipulate the will of

their master  to create a swirling wind

Craggy rocks wrinkled by fissures 

of heat and wind over many millennia

An undulating sea of shifting sand

a silence imcomparable

No evidence of life

Browns, ochre, yellow and burnt sienna

Lifless, bereft of birds, no echoes heard

A searing sun of merciless might

A sky with no whisper of cloud

a haunting stillness, a curse

to a parched being

yet a source of contemplative wealth

Little to imagine for what can be seen

The night comes as a blanket draped

under a canopy of stars twinkling

in the heavens of creation

Cold takes on the mantle of heat

Day and night require cover

and protection

Flowing robes, partially concealed faces

the garments of the Bedouin

who traverse the forbidden Najd