There is a desert
I long to be walking,
a wide emptiness,

peace beyond any
understanding of it.

Rumi
Translated by Coleman Barks

I felt welcomed by the still darkness of the new moon sky.  All the universe seemed to be in a slumber.  The atmosphere was quiet as an invisible cloud cover shielded any light from the stars. The birds and neighborhood dogs had yet to stir.  Even the trees were soundless in the quiet, breezeless air.

Although I was far from the Great Plains where I grew up, the boundl...