Running Home

The Santa Rita Mountains 1-21-2010

What is this that awakens me?

What is this pull I feel?

I rise on a sunny morning,

I get into my car and drive,

I pass beneath a Swainson’s hawk circling above,

I leave the city streets behind.

Around me, the desert opens wide—

I feel my mind relaxing

As each mile falls behind,

And then I see the wonder

Of this wild place

Each mile draws me closer

To these cactus-covered slopes

Where birds fly free in a pale blue sky,

Where birds nest in pale green scrub,

Where mountain peaks rise up and stand

Shoulder to shoulder towering

Over spiny saguaros,

Deep canyons,

And me.

—I am being called

—I am being pulled

—I am running

Home.

~Kathie Adams Brown (April 17, 2013)

It’s been a long time since I have lived in Sycamore Canyon now. I moved away in August of 2010. Two years later I returned to Tucson and moved into a rental house in town. Since I still have friends in the area I have been out to visit Sycamore Canyon a few times. I have tried to deny the pull that it still as on me, but with spring migration in full swing, I could not help but think of all the marvelous birds that I use to see right in my own backyard when I lived in Sycamore Canyon. Or, I could just cross the street and be in the wash in 30 seconds or less, and see even more. So it was that one day back in mid April I left my suburban home and drove out to visit one of my friend in Sycamore Canyon. I basically spent the whole day there watching birds from her yard, or in the park. It was after this that I came back to Tucson and wrote the above poem which I originally posted on my poetry blog.

Sycamore Canyon is such a special place and the wildlife there is amazing. Being on the slopes of the Santa Rita Mountains is like no other habitat in Tucson. This is truly a place that need to be protected and preserved. While my main blog is now Kathie’s Birds, I realize that I will be back to visit Sycamore Canyon and I want to keep all the posts related to this place on the same blog, so I have decided that if I write about Sycamore Canyon I will publish the post in both locations to make it easier to find. If you like, come visit me at Kathie’s Birds or Kathie's Poet Tree, and maybe one of these days I will get back to finishing my guide to the birds of Sycamore Canyon on Sycamore Canyon Birds!