I Am the Salt of the Earth.

Through the verdure of the valley,

Beside the swollen stream,

I roll along the hard dry dirt.

The rushing air across my ears

Blends with the rushing stream.

Whoosh and whish are one long swooish.

Above and along birds twitter

Like sugar, and beneath

My fat tires the earth crackles.

And the atmosphere is hot and

Heavy with sticky wet

Humidity — I am my breeze.

Built beside and on the sloping

Bluffs are freshly painted

Houses with freshly watered lawns.

Atop the bluffs the woods tower

Like engorged broccoli,

Emasculating the houses.

But between the bluffs, beyond this

Valley, I spy the white

Ominous cloud, bright beside sky.

It billows up and up, filling

The sky and the heavens

Between bluffs, and above valley.

The rain will come soon, cooling and

Cleansing the dirt and my

Skin. I am the salt of the earth.