Another Day of Wind

For days on end
The unrelenting wind
Scours the parched land.

The temperatures soar
As the months wear on,
Yet barely mid-Spring.

The sound of sirens
Carries upon the gale
As another fire rages

Removing dead fuel;
Last year's grasses
That might have sustained

The few cattle remaining
On the moistureless land,
Once so verdant.

Tears glisten on a creased face
Whose years of labor
Are loaded on trailers.

Another pasture burns.
Another herd is gone.
Another rancher hunkers down.