Before Darkness

El Paso’s evening symphony
begins fortissimo, an explosion
of vibrant colors streaking
the desert sky, azure, orange, rose,
a visual songburst echoed
by the last, frantic calls of birds
seeking shelter within the palms
and scrub, the scree, scree
of crickets advertising availability,
and the scrabbling, scurrying
rustle of miniscule desert lizards
searching out day’s few remaining
thrumming vessels of heat
to sustain them through the night.

Softly, surely, in deepening streaks,
the light purples down to dusk,
the birds settle to cooing mumbles,
and crickets and lizards slow to stillness,
their nightly hibernation begun
as the emerging moon silvers
and silhouettes, and all quiets
to the tick, ticking of my small world,
contracting into darkness.