The sun has finished brushing its teeth
Passing the baton to a moon playing hide-and-seek
While memories of childhood sleepovers
Come alive again 35 miles from Yosemite’s back door
The sound of slow-turning wheels
Remind you of Grape-Nuts cereal
Pulverized between your nine-year-old teeth
As you crawl over the last two miles of this sneezy road
You bobble-head on a washboard road
Applying extra-strength repellant on
the weeds of noise and distraction
Or at least give them a heavy-duty buzz cut
A horse, swinging its massive head toward you
Guards your path, watching you
Soldier on like a missionary, to camp
Darting across your path, a couple wild squirrels
Crunch! Crunch! Squeak!
Oops! Sorry, Little Guy!
You are forgiven. Just keep driving.
Two vultures rotate high above
Descending like a silent helicopter
Anticipating an early evening snack
Now you drive past the horse sculpture
Rearing up as if to race you
Its nose pointing the way to the
Meditating gate of Jewels Vista
You punch some digits on a keypad and—Presto!
The gate’s voice sparkles to life
Beeping, “Happy Welcome to You!”
You drive expectantly through this hidden portal
And proceed reverently into the place where God dwells
When you arrive at your spot
You turn off the ignition
Your vehicle takes several deep breaths of relief
Glad to be still for a few hours
Scanning the horizon as far left and as far right
Your eyes begin to
Mist at the majesty before you
Behind you, and all around you
You feel a giant hug from the Creator Himself
Later, with both your eyelids fully Zip-locked
Trillions of galaxies (along with the innumerable stars they contain)
Carefully watch over you, nodding and
Glowing with joy that you decided to
Come for a visit