Swirl

One day to visit as many arches as we can. Under One-Tree Arch, the pinyon jays call and sing, their beautiful melody echoes through my heart. They swoop and swoosh all around me as I sit on a log near the arch. It’s  as if I’m looking into a window of times gone by.  The air. The birds. The arch. They all become eternal and I so do I. A  peace moves through me, through the oxygen in my lungs. Through the blood in my vanes. I feel the ancient healing power swirl around me.   

Landscape arch is huge, as big as a football field. In the 80s a big chunk of the arch dropped near several people who picnicked underneath. Now you can only hike to a nearby viewing spot. We eat lunch, and marvel at the massive arch, think at spots as it

 arcs over trees and shrubs. It’s an eyeful, and it seems the view never tires. Nova and I spot a "heart light" and we know we're where we're supposed to be. 

From Landscape, we hike up a steep boulder staircase, pass fallen Wall Arch, and to the "top of the world." The sky is rich with cumulous clouds, and I want to reach out and pull a piece of it down, tuck it into my pocket before we leave.

We hike to the Delicate Arch Upper Viewpoint, and it is a perfect scene across the canyon. I lie on granite slabs, reminiscent of Sierra stone I love so much. The rock warms me, and I am happy. My eyes trace the form of Delicate Arch, which seems to erupt out of a lunar rock face itself. Perfect sculpture once again.

We head out, passing Balance Rock on our way. Possibilities in the impossible all perfectly carved in red rock spires and arches. I am sad to leave such a sacred place. A place of peace. Timelessness. And art.

Art is perfect. Art collapses. Rebuilds. Art is life.