Caught in the fence

Just past the first curve in miles faded flowers snared in barbed wire call attention to a pile of stones that support a small brown cross – nameless, dateless.

A mechanical pencil stands with military precision in the stones, placement too precise to have been random. In the narrow cattle trail behind the fence, a fresh cow patty bakes in the sun, soon to dry to a rippled weightless pile, another unmarked symbol of life.

State Highway 118
Jeff Davis County, Texas