A Light At Both Ends: Burro Schmidt Tunnel

The wild west was won by the notorious,
By the shrewd, the infamous, and the vainglorious.
It is dotted by the remains of human hubris
By towns that went BOOM then busted.

The desert claims as kin the eccentrics:
Loner souls digging deeper holes
Chasing veins like addicted moles--
Pits and caves underground spiraling nowhere, concentric.

A tunnel is different: it's just like life
Hewn by hand out of the hard four dimensions
Pinpoint the gleam in your father's eye
Span through the time-space continuum:
There's a light at both ends!

Burro Schmidt begs The Big Question:
Why?
Why toil 38 years to stitch 2 beads of sky?
Meaning and purpose come unhinged
Fear of depths more than death, buried alive!

There is a quality of faith required
To perforate the planet like a flute
I am a single note escaping, en route
Via the narrow place where darkness presses its danger.

They say he did it out of a passion
Not for gold, nor for ore
The tunnelling was not a means--
Lacing the light was its own end.

I face my fear of depths, and emerge reborn!

Thanks for joining me on my musings on the Mojave desert! This poem completes my series on our recent trip to Jawbone Canyon, Red Rock State Park, and the El Paso Mountains Wilderness.

https://steemit.com/socalsteemit/@creationofcare/desert-trails-rally-race-photos

https://steemit.com/socalsteemit/@creationofcare/a-magical-wildflower-carpet-ride

https://steemit.com/socalsteemit/@creationofcare/hello-from-the-moon-or-mars-redrock-canyon-state-park

Love,Cat
@creationofcare

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