The desert stretched before me in waves of gold and rose and white the dunes shaped by wind and time the crests sharp against the pale sky the hollows deep in shadow The wind moved soft upon the sands carrying with it the breath of the night the promise of the day the endless song of the empty places I walked slow and steady my feet sinking into the fine sand my steps measured to the rhythm of the land the silence deep about me filled only by the whisper of the wind and the soft sound of my passing

As the sun climbed higher the heat rose upon the land the light fierce and white upon the sands the sky pale and endless above The wind grew stronger lifting the fine sand into veils that danced upon the air that blurred the line between earth and sky that shaped and reshaped the dunes before my eyes The world became a place of light and shadow of gold and white of wind and sand The horizon wavered in the heat the air shimmering the shapes of distant dunes shifting like water upon the edge of sight

I saw upon the horizon what seemed the shimmer of water the glint of light upon a distant lake the promise of coolness the dream of relief I knew it for a mirage yet my heart leapt at the sight for the desert plays its tricks upon the eyes and the soul I walked on drawn by the horizon that forever fled before me the dunes rising and falling like waves upon a sea of sand the wind singing in my ears the sun fierce upon my back

By midday the heat was fierce beyond words the sand burning beneath my feet the air thick with light and dust The wind came strong and dry from the east the sand rising in waves about me stinging my skin blinding my eyes I wrapped my cloak about my face bent low against the storm and walked on seeking the shelter of a dune the shadow of a rock the refuge of some hollow in the land The world was a place of light and fire and wind the voice of the desert loud in my ears the taste of the sand sharp upon my tongue

At last I found shelter in the lee of a great dune where the wind passed over and the sand lay still I rested there drank sparingly from my water watched as the storm moved on across the sands leaving the world washed clean beneath the fierce sun The silence returned deep and strong the land vast and empty the sky wide and pale and endless above I lay upon the sand and watched the slow drift of cloud the flight of a lone hawk high upon the wind the dance of light upon the dunes

As the day fell toward evening the light softened the fierce white of the sun turning to gold and rose the shadows of the dunes long and deep upon the land The wind cooled carried with it the breath of the night the promise of rest the scent of the cooling earth I walked on the sands cool beneath my feet the air sweet with the coming dark the world quiet and still The stars came early bright upon the darkening sky the moon rising pale and thin upon the edge of the world

I came upon a place where the dunes fell away to a wide plain of hard earth cracked and bare where ancient stones stood half buried in the sand their shapes worn by wind and time their purpose lost to memory The air here was filled with the silence of ages the weight of the years the voice of the land I walked among the stones my steps slow my heart full of wonder and sorrow and the sense of all that had passed before upon this road

I made my camp that night beside a fallen stone my fire small and warm against the chill of the coming night the stars bright above the dark plain the wind soft upon the sand I watched the flames dance the sparks rise into the night the shadows move upon the stones I listened to the voice of the desert the song of the wind the silence of the empty places I lay upon the earth and watched the stars wheel slow and sure above the world and I slept with the peace of the desert upon me

The days that followed took me deeper into the mirage lands where the dunes rose higher the sands finer the wind stronger The world became a place of gold and shadow of silence and song of light and time The desert taught me patience taught me strength taught me the value of each breath each step each drop of water each moment beneath the endless sky I walked upon the sands and became part of the land the wind the light the silence the endless dance of the desert and the soul