Past sunset,
Now
My steps led me
Over Stewart Creek
On an old log
Fallen aspen, trembling
Up, up
The canyon’s south face
I climbed
Over a gully, narrow
Water on rock
And then
To a flat of sage
Knee-high
And then waist high
The sage gave the hill
Shape, setting shadows
A dark silhouette
Of pinyon
Pointed branches
Pasted against a pale
Cloud
And pink, glowing
In the last light of day
Over the pink
Stretching through the sky
Was a pale blue
Brought by day
To night
The trees
And I, Mahogany, aspen, pine
Listened
Below, filling the canyon
The rush of Stewart Creek
Pouring over stones
And through hollows
Of rock
The earth
Rejoiced over water
In this
The birds, also
Gave thanks
For their echoing
Calls reflected
In mirror tones
The water’s rush
Cascading melodies of sound
Presently
In growing darkness
I turned from the day’s colors
And leaving the upper meadow
Re-crossed the creek
With the close
Of day
June 18, 2021
Otto De Groff has spent most of his life living in Utah. As a young man, Otto’s father often took him (along with his brothers) to western Utah, where they spent days exploring, hiking, and rockhounding. These experiences gave Otto a rooted respect and love for Utah’s wild places, especially those found along the state’s western edge.
After serving an LDS mission in Mexico, Otto studied at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife and Wildlands Conservation. Currently, Otto is pursuing a master’s degree at BYU in the same field, with a special emphasis on bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva D. K. Bailey) forest ecology and variation in growth rates of these trees through time. While studying at BYU, Otto met and married his wife, Maddie, who is from St. George, Utah. They live together with their son, Ferris, in Utah Valley.