It’s evening, and the sun is going down; whether you’re in the Deschutes River valley or up in the Cascades near Salmon La Sac, you will hear the chirps of crickets. If it is in the high desert near the Deschutes the beautiful chirping that you will hear will probably be made by true crickets -- field crickets to be precise. If you are not in the high desert, but up in the forested mountains of the Cascades, it will be a whole different picture. Instead of the lovely serenade of the field crickets that could lull anyone to sleep, a loud, obnoxious screech meets your ears. Eeeeeeeeeeee!

Nightly chorus, around us sing
Crickets and others
Chirp through the night
Under a white light
A moon of blinding brightness
Pale grey craters
The moon does bear
Blushing clouds
Gather around
Far off stars
Silver glittering specks
In a midnight sky
Dark in blue
Cover as dome
Above music at night

Cricket, cricket, singing high,
watching as the clouds roll by,
leaping under dark'ning sky,
chirping at the fireside

Cricket, cricket, singing slow,
watching as the sun sinks low,
basking in the red-orange glow,
listening as the breezes blow

Cricket, cricket, singing fast,
singing as the world goes past,
singing in the shadows cast,
sing to make the evening last