First Night in Arizona (Tom Swearingen )

First Night in Arizona

«Tom Swearingen »

Seventy-five Kent reports

 And nary a cloud at all

 But here it is November

 Two full months now into fall

Envious? Hard to not be

 Why just look there at the shot

 The photo that he sent us

 Of their winter livin’ spot

First eve of their arrival

 In the Arizona sun

 They’re riding in the desert

 Many miles from Oregon

That Saguaro by Linda

 Must be thirty plus feet high

 A great spire of succulence

 Long arms reaching to the sky

Linda’s bay Paint Horse Seven

 Looks curiously content

 Wonder if she’s wondering

 Where the Douglas Firs all went

Not missing a minute though

 The wet ground she left back home

 ‘Cause now there’s miles of dry sand

 And gravelly earth to roam

Yep, they’ve done traded soft mud

 And slop splashed up to the hocks

 For bone dry hooves, dusty legs

 And sure-footed sunbaked rocks

It’s a swap we could go for

 And someday just might arrange

 Leave Oregon for winters

 On the Arizona range

I’m anxious for what they say

 When our friends come back in spring

 Find out if their maiden trip

 Will become their annual thing

But I am pretty certain

 That I know just what they’ll say

 It’s right there in the photo

 As clear as a sunny day

You just look at Linda’s smile

 Tell me that don’t say it all

 Gleaming, beaming, happiness

 I’m sure they’ll head back come fall