At noon in the desert a panting lizard
waited for history, its elbows tense,
watching the curve of a particular road
as if something might happen.

It was looking at something farther off
than people could see, an important scene
acted in stone for little selves
at the flute end of consequences.

There was just a continent without much on it
under a sky that never cared less.
Ready for a change, the elbows waited.
The hands gripped hard on the desert.

Copyright Credit: William Stafford, “At the Bomb Testing Site” from The Way It Is. Copyright © 1960, 1998 by William Stafford and the Estate of William Stafford. Used with the permission of Graywolf Press.