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What a brutal sun that assaults the cliffs

AmyMMosier

Rhymed
What a brutal sun that assaults the cliffs
Where cacti and mescals dare to abide!
Here and there, dozens of petroglyphs
Decorating the canyon may be espied.

In large nesting circles neatly drawn
In evaporating wisps and bold squares
In a sun to give thanks for every dawn
In little starbursts and stick figures

In a deer, in an eagle looking strong
In a war scene kept by the ancients –
It remains unsaid – time is not long
But to a murky end, everything drifts.
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Submitted by AmyMMosier on October 13, 2024

Modified by AmyMMosier on October 14, 2024

27 sec read
9

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CXCX DXDX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 468
Words 90
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Full analysis for What a brutal sun that assaults the cliffs »

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3 Comments
  • Kahlani
    Kahlani
    Hi Amy, Your title caught my attention, so I had to look further. I needed to look up petroglyphs to find out what it means. I know that glyphs are symbols or drawings that represent words but I hadn't heard of petroglyphs. This gave more meaning to the rest of your poem. This is my new word of the day. Fabulous poem. 
    LikeReply2 months ago
  • luisestable1
    luisestable1
    When I read this, I think of those who talk of the beauty of sunny days and worship the sun, but many times the sun heats too much or makes us uncomfortable with so much warm that we wish for fresher days. I think we romanticize the sun too much. Shakespeare in one of his famous sonnets says something like this, "Sometimes the eye of heaven is too hot." And he was right. 
    LikeReply2 months ago
  • lkilham
    lkilham
    I like it! We see this here in New Mexico.
    LikeReply2 months ago

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"What a brutal sun that assaults the cliffs" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Dec. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/201021/what-a-brutal-sun-that-assaults-the-cliffs>.

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