Independence Valley

Watch the restless swallows come and go

on the power line to Tuscarora.

Some avian law explains the way

birds leave space between one another.

Instinct decrees  distance between hawks

hunched on poles beside the Midas Road

and tells peregrine falcons  to nest 

at least two miles from other raptors.

What of the ranchers who inhabit

the range below?  From an eagle’s view

 above the plain, distance makes sense:

 what the high desert land can sustain.

 A question remains.  Does distance breed

 those disinclined to be near their kind? 

The trails of truck dust on country roads 

show the miles folks  go to help each other.

Not everyone is meant for this place.

Generations who stay find solace

in silence, comfort in kindred souls,

 God in the sunsets and the space.