The giant saguaro (pronounced sah-wah-ro), the largest cactus in the United States, is found in the Saguaro National Park, Tuscon, Arizona. The saguaro can reach a height of 12 metres and an age of up to 200 years. Seen en masse it is like seeing a huge crowd of human beings.
This poem is dedicated to Terry, a dear friend and a talented artist. It’s my way of thanking her for introducing me to the beauty, majesty and tranquility of the Arizona desert.
SAGUARO
In Israel
they are known as sabra
prickly on the outside
soft and yielding within.
Here in the Arizona desert
they are Saguaro
The natives say
they are the spirits of our ancestors
risen from the dead.
They stand like sentinels
arms reaching outwards and upwards
sometimes clasping one another
as a parent does a child.
All the people
who have ever been
are here.
Not ashes to ashes
Not dust to dust
but enriching the earth
as we enriched
the lives of others.
This is our life after death.
© Andrea Neidle, My Life in Poems
My Life in Poems 
Just lovely Andrea xx
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