" I felt the magic.....the magnetism...there is a presence in that quietude ... "

26, Jan. 2018

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Desert Trails

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" Down a steep road that followed the windings of San Yasidro Creek
we took our way for Warner's Springs. This wooded country of oaks,
pines, and cedars was enchanting to me. It seemed incredible that one
day's travel could so change every aspect but that of the sky; though
even that was a more cheerful blue, no longer the pale, glary azure of
the desert.

Grass waved along the roadside - what a contrast to the chollas! Late
flowers brightened the path, replacing gray burro-weed and snaky ocotillo,
Kingly oaks for dull mesquite; winey breath of cedar instead of acrid alkaline
dust; frank bird in place of furtive reptile - it was a blessed exchange.

And yet, and yet - already I felt the magic, the magnetism, of the old
wonderful desert,drawing me back: back to its dreariness, silence, and
secrecy, its cruelty of heat and thirst, its infinite expanse, its ageless 
mystery and calm, its threat of death, its passionless repose. I am no
misanthrope: I love my fellow men, indeed, I eagerly claim my right in
mortality. 

But there is a presence in that quietude, a sense of wisdom and of the
sadness that goes with it, which something in me recognizes as a
brotherhood too. 

The mountains, the ocean, the forest, go deep in their spell,
but the desert goes deepest of all. "

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