Towers of Hovenweep

I awaken at six in the morning

in the rays of the rising sun

lighting up my tent surrounded

by fresh-smelling pinyons and

junipers fed by scant rain showers.

Within minutes my friends and I

walk around the loop of the canyon

toward the ancient towers made of

rich brown stone that radiates a

spiritual warmth stronger than mere

degrees of heat. We pass by pottery

chards near a square structure used to

store grains for winter, and we peer down

to the Boulder House built within a womb

of rock standing guard amid gray-green

sagebrush above Hovenweep Canyon,

And then we arrive at Twin Towers to

admire up close the masonry of human

hands and minds and spirit where

melodious canyon wrens continue

to chirp the chant of the living desert

in the presence of Sleeping Ute Mountain.

By Richard F. Fleck