While You Can

Watch the heat. Spring nights
In cloudless climes with
Starry skies bring in
Hot days all too soon
And sooner, these days.

Breezes stir saplings
Tied to stakes, watered
By drip lines concealed
In arty rubble
For the xeriscape.

Strategies, patterns,
Manipulations
Of arid landscape,
Ways to be human,
Make the most of things

And then make the most
Of consequences
Of making the most
Of things. Cliff dwellings,
Air-conditioning.

People live their lives,
Their reproductions,
And so do the deer,
Ravens, rattlesnakes,
Condors, while they can.