And It Was Day

Because he sent a head of cattle on
Further than they should go, over the dykes,
Driving them with a switch and a dog beside him:

They sank in the quag, and he,
Frightened because of his sin, disappeared,
Never to be noticed again in that country:

Because he told them, in a letter,
That it was not his fault, he had gone mad,
Driven towards the sea by a vision of birds

Who whistled over his head in the wind,
Leading to a quiet island. He found a girl there,
Lay with her in the rushes, her beauty

Like a star being too much for him.
The wind rose, the morning was grey, his vision gone:
There was no girl, there were no cattle, and it was day.

--Nicholas Moore ("The Island and the Cattle")

Comanche Point from Espejo Canyon (top)
looking east from outside Cremation Canyon (below)