Silent Guardians

You stand there, silent & watching each of you in turn holding a bank of memories That are mine to draw from each day To the North, the Catalinas Draw me back to childhood days of breakfasts, camp fires & snow ball fights teenage drives & love's first kiss To the East, the Rincons Where I have wiled the time away I've hiked your trails & greeted the moon watched storms roll in & lightening play To the South, the Santa Ritas Long forgotten roads & ghost towns hold my grief & pain, sorrow & tears when from adulthood & its trials I ran To the West, the Tucson Mountains settling low & wide, hold a poet's dreams Just me & a cactus wren serenade as day gave way to desert night You stand there, silent & watching welcoming me home & drawing me close At every turn I find you there Solid & watchful, ever the Silent Guardians