Levels of descent

Levels of descent, terra cotta
And gold, sand and shrub, sloping
To the great gorge, the descent to
Madness, the descent to quiet.
Here is the still quiet point and
The soaring sky, crunch of stone and
Shale. Approach the Canyon from Orayvi,
Corals and plums seduce. The expanse
So far below; descend just a bit, from one
Generous shelf to the next, drawing down.

Here is the loose footing, the sudden slide
Just beyond the switchback and you didn’t mean
To come this far. Sunlight crowning the rim
And sweet shadow below. How many descents, how
Many steps deeper into the chasm unwittingly
and the sun begins to fade and the path
back in shadow, and there at the rim
no one.

This is how we fall in love. Not in a glorious leap
from a precipice. But rather at
levels. At any moment
deciding to continue or climb out
of the abyss
and walk towards the sun.