Wedding Anniversary Poem by Berniece Penner

As a bride I arrived
to the land of sagebrush
where coyotes howled
Mexican music played
wildflowers bloomed
a land of desert paths and mountain trails.
Land of sunsets and cool nights
lightening and wildfires
canyons, rivers, and dunes,
irrigation rainbows and potatoes,
hot springs and yellow roses
and the church of the desert.
I left my desert home
for the big city far away. But I’ll never forget
the land of wide open spaces
when love was young
where with hands clasped
our hearts knit together.