an enCHANTment

Heading west on the 502

We are a band of three plus two

Twilight tracing shadows

We are noisy and raucous as crows

The curtain of night fell a while back

We have quieted down, cruising along

Outside the windows, nothing but black

As we get higher, the radio is losing the song

Shield your eyes, it’s overly bright

Hideous lights, pretending daylight

An orange glow lights the night

Los Alamos, you can feel the nuclear fission

Hear it, almost taste the intensity

The energy of perdition

Overwhelming in its own immensity

The wheels on the car cease to roll

Bathed in ginger, the car feels alive

We hear the electricity from the poles

Like bees in a hive

In an eerie, floating electric slide

The car just seems to glide

Blinking we are out the other side

South onto the 501 then to the 4

There is snow up here so high above the desert floor

Ponderosa pines piercing the midnight blue sky

Standing guard over the pools with a watchful eye

Parking along the highway, we see a shooting star

One by one, we tumble out of the tiny car

The moon has taken a break tonight

Or it’s not in view yet or just not anymore

Turning on the flashlight

We head over and down into the forest floor

The river before us, steamy, racing along, at a mercurial clip

A tightrope walk on a snowy log, careful not to slip

Above, in an outcropping of rocks, the pools await

In the middle of the forest the hot springs we anticipate

Naked now, immersed and sated, gazing into the valley below

The lights of Albuquerque in the valley put up a hazy glow

But high above is a much better show

The Milky Way is dazzling; Universe take a bow

Waterlogged, fingers white

Time to call it a night

Scrabbling up the side of the hill

Scrambling into the car, the night is stony still

A fog has appeared, the mountains' icy moan

Before the key is turned, we realize, we are not alone

From behind we see the forms, emerging from the mist

Like a sea they part, we are engulfed, swallowed in their midst

We sit as in a silent shine as the elk pass by and disappear into the dell

Not a whisper is uttered so as not to quell the captivating, enchanted spell