Unexpected Gift -- Update

A horse and mule move through the heat and sun Along the dry desert sands below the deep blue sky Waiting and watching nearby on some cacti trees Sit red-tailed hawks smaller birds and a elf owl And close by in the heat wait mule deer and bighorn sheep Willows and cottonwoods begin to appear in the sandy nurseries For here in the desert — horses and mules enter to dig wells Dug by earth’s special creatures down to 6 feet deep Groundwater for wildlife the bounty of nature’s engineers Ancient times taught the horses, the mules to create the wells Nature's gift, dear God mankind, we need to allow these creatures to be free As described in a paper published April 29 in the journal Science, the animals use their hooves to dig more than six feet deep to reach groundwater for themselves, in turn creating oases that serve as a boon to wildlife