Fiery waves of wind
Slither across the desert floor
Toward the graying remains
Cast off abruptly
Like the cracking skin
Of a ruthless rattlesnake
Left to flounder
And slip into crimson dust

Searing the rigid flesh
Of frozen stones
Whispering placid cures
Into layers of peeling paint
Invigorating the flakes of mortar
Smothered between
The vestiges of powdery bricks
Once throned atop arches

Spreading creamy light
Across jagged facades
Seeping through the folds
In murky drapes of shadows past
Like a bonfire’s glow
Against the skeletons of evergreens
Rekindling a fallen town
As the sun hemorrhages
On the horizon