Walking a dirt road about a half mile from the Taos Pueblo
I happened to meet an old man who lived there and was walking home. I had a paper bag with two chocolate covered donuts in it, so I offered him one.
As we walked we bit at the sweet treats and talked about one thing and another. But you know how it is when you look ahead on a long stretch of road in hot summer and you see the undulations of heat flowing horizontally in the distance? Well I was seeing that and, even though we spoke only of casual matters, I was sensing something from him that was of a similar flavor.
After a good spell we stopped in the middle of the road and talked a little bit more about nothing in particular. We didn't talk likkity-split as strangers might in a shopping mall. The rhythms were different; there were long pauses that came so easily. We didn't even say good-bye or nice to meet you. He just continued on towards the pueblo and I took one of the spurs in the road.
Eventually I came to a large rock and made a sitting place of it. And I was just sitting there like anybody might be sitting on a rock except that I wasn't thinking about anything. Then suddenly I got panicky! The mind got noisy with thought; it wanted to make noise, to be tickled, to have opinions and stuff.
I tried to get back to that place of quiet. I almost made it. A lizard came out from under a nearby rock and looked at me. I looked at the lizard, and I knew he was seeing me, knowing me. So I looked at him again, and he looked at me again. And then I got carried away in the mind and started thinking about how beautiful the moment was—and then the lizard darted away.
Ron Hobbs writes and lives in San Francisco
TO OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
Share Your Comments and Reflections on this Conversation:
On May 15, 2017 hailstorm wrote:
New Mexico is a magical enchanted place. enjoy every momemtOn Mar 24, 2017 Paul Burge wrote:
A peace we are all searching for...Explained very well...Thanks for sharing.
On Mar 22, 2017 Terra Williams wrote:
Yes, words~~yours here~~are magic! Thanking you.For Richard and Ron's 2004 Conversation: (see link)
On Mar 22, 2017 karen kreidler wrote:
I liked your comments about your moments with the lizard.On Mar 22, 2017 Laurie Baker wrote:
You writing this reminds me of what humans do. Walk, talk, encounter, enjoy chocolate donuts, and especially, think. In the openness of the desert there is space to be human and lizard.On Jan 25, 2017 Jan Knauer wrote:
I like when lizards come out to say hello. I know they are watching me in the desert all the time, but an appearance is so great.