Utah

Wild country of the heart,

Where everything and nothing happens.

The First People moved

Across rich grasslands,

With abundant herds

Of mastodons, giant bison and camels,

And left behind in caves

Exquisite chert spear points

And stone tools.

They thought they lived in Paradise.

They thought it would never end.

But in a few thousand years

There were drought and famine,

And on sandstone cliffs,

Imploring the gods for help,

They painted in red haematite

Herds of bighorn sheep,

Fresh flowing water

And thin wraiths with huge empty eyes...



Prophets and saints of the desert

Dig for roots with the Indians,

Mining the uranium of divinity,

And finding, now and then,

A sign from within,

Like a dinosaur footprint

Sealed in sandstone.