NURSLINGS OF THE SKY 



except from some far -strayed cloud or 

 roving wind from the California Gulf, and 

 these only in winter. In summer the sky 

 travails with thunderings and the flare of 

 sheet lightnings to win a few blistering big 

 drops, and once in a lifetime the chance of 

 a torrent. But you have not known what 

 force resides in the mindless things until 

 you have known a desert wind. One 

 expects it at the turn of the two seasons, 

 wet and dry, with electrified tense nerves. 

 Along the edge of the mesa where it drops 

 off to the valley, dust devils begin to rise 

 white and steady, fanning out at the top 

 like the genii out of the Fisherman's bot- 

 tle. One supposes the Indians might have 

 learned the use of smoke signals from 

 these dust pillars as they learn most things 

 direct from the tutelage of the earth. The 

 air begins to move fluently, blowing hot 

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