Prayer for Petroglyphs

Prayer for Petroglyphs

 

Who looks at peckings on the face of rocks

still visible, though from an ancient hand,

and is not stirred to wonder at intent,

of who was meant to read these marks?

 

Man-shapes and spirals glow in evening rays,

when shadows lengthen in-between cliff’s clefts,

on boulders pink and brown as desert sand,

above saguaro and the prickly pear.

Perhaps Hohokam simply told the tale

of where they found their game one hunting trip.

Perhaps their people worshiped here at times,

gave thanks for changing seasons and for meat.

 

Their poems remain, preserved in air.

Aggressive bees, protect these mysteries.

 

 

Peggy Turnbull



Peggy Turnbull began to write poetry after she returned to live in her Wisconsin birthplace after decades away.  Read more of her poems in Writers Resist, Verse-Virtual, Solitary Plover, and Parody.