A Desert Trek

Climbing up the steep n’ rocky paths We were struck by the beauty of the mountains With their towering summits Kissing the seams of the heavens Beyond, sprawled endless stretch of sand! With the sun going down in the west, The surroundings were blazed in amber light And the whole land lay in a magic spell cast We were heading to our camp in the desert Part of a trek, planned months in advance After trudging several miles on foot The rest we covered in a wagon got by chance The desert greeted us like a warm host. After the blistering heat of the day, The night had turned pleasantly cool Promising us the boon of a delectable stay The sky had turned black and inky But the moon had arced high over head Casting a metallic glow of light Turning the rocks into a shade of chrome red The sands seemed radiant and beckoning There, around a camp fire, in a circular pattern we sat From far it looked a glowing scarlet pyre Often the wind passed the burning faggots with a pat The whirling and wheeling current of air Drew and redrew, etched and erased, Shifting patterns in the desert sand, As an inspired artist with perfection crazed Sitting beneath the star studded sky We sang and danced, inhaling the desert air Forgetting the world of strife left behind Merging into a space eerie but fair As the wind blew wild, sometimes running amok, Blinding our eyes with dust and sand, We helped each other blow off the grain And shielded our eyes with the hand Sand dunes peeked here and there And a caravan of camels with bells in their neck Was crossing the length of sands stretching infinite Carrying turbaned riders on their humpy back Beside the small shelf of a tawny rock We saw a host of cacti in splendid flower, Desert blooms looming in arid space And elf owls roosting under cover The wide stretch, dry and sterile Lay vast and mysterious in the luminous night Sometimes we felt as if lost in a land abstruse That extended before us beyond all boundary and limit Amid the bellowing smoke, rising skyward And the sound of crackling tinder We stretched our eyes over many a mile Of that ‘terra incognita’ in rising wonder If there is jocund company, even here There can be so much fun and life! Squatting on haunches and sipping hot tea We sat round the campfire, forgetting all earthly strife. It was indeed a tour of discovery, Into the heart of a fathomless sea of sand Man has ever been a relentless explorer The lure of the mysterious, he can never withstand!