Indigo Sky [retrospective sketch]

Feet pound pavement-a lazy run across the five-lane street,
Shoes eating asphalt,
drumming tothe slow blink of the bright red hand.

The curbside shadow looms:
I do not stop my run, no.
Away from the home, away from the lights,
into the night.

The sky is a dark purple-indigo,
sun gone to horizon, the moon
mysterious behind clouds.

My feet go faster, legs buzzing
a quiet protest in the back of my mind,muscle straining
moving my legs up
down, up, down,
down the stretch of sidewalk
where the weeds crack stone.

The street is bare, cars from the last stoplight
just coming ahead,
their lights anonymous and impartial,
gazes flickering at me, then away
as I run and run and run.
A sudden burst of light
explodes my sight, and I
look up in wonder.

The deep black clouds have showed their sign,
lightning lancing low against the skyline,
a splash of white
on the indigo canvas.

I am filled, now, with electricity
that courses through the air miles away-
my feet go faster, faster than I've gone before,
running and running to the place of my salvation.

Soon the desert fills my lungs and eyes
With the silent sound of creatures
breathing in the heavy dark.
Tall Saguaro guardians
Watch impassively as I stumble,
And silently I fall.

Hairs on my arms slowly stand,
looking around to see what happens next.
They sense it in the air,
They sense it on my lips,
They sense it in the earth.

Electricity.