The Silence of the Summit (Poetry Monthly)

Cherry

By Silver Spun Sand

Tue, 04 Aug 2015
  • 818 reads
6 comments
 
Darkness falls and I am cold;
limbs – stiffening, hope – fading.
In my alpine-rated bag, close my ears
to the marmots’ piercing lullaby; 
often wondered where Whistler Mountain 
got its name.
 
‘Neath my canopy of stars, I pick out
Orion, The Plough; amazing things –
stars.  So too, the satellite constellation;
much like dot to dot technology. I shall call 
everyone I know – tell them of the slide
this afternoon...
 
How I’d seen Sockeye Salmon spawn
at Gates Creek; saw a brown, Bald Eagle
soar the skies at the Squamish Estuary,
a Trumpeter Swan sent skating, after
crash-landing on the ice.
 
Avalanche risk was high; only, 
I’ve always courted danger, 
and where danger is, so is fate,
hand in hand with eventuality. 
And here I lie, broken, yet elated.
James Joyce springs to mind.
 
“He had doubled the cape 
a few odd times...weathered
a monsoon...and through all
those perils of the deep – one 
thing, he declared...a pious
medal, he had, that saved him.”
 
‘Why do I climb mountains?’ they ask. 
 
‘Why do birds fly and salmon swim upstream?’ 
my reply. Clichéd, though it is,
it says what I mean
 
and, yes – I will talk, and talk and talk...
until the satellite bids, ‘Good night’.
Until my batteries...run dry...
a silence of purple hills
falling away like sweet,
night rain.
Certificate 12
Poem
Silver Spun Sand Poems
Spiritual
Travel
Philosophy

Comments

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

No pain? Free to enjoy memories and talking – and some of her experienced pleasures you've drawn so well. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

Thank you for your thoughts, Rhiannon.  Appreciated.

Tina

 

Submitted by VeraClark on

Gosh, this is stunning. 

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

So pleased you thought so.  You've brightened a somewhat sombre couple of days.  Thank you, so muchsmiley

Tina

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

You wrote of sleeping under the stars so high up in those mountains...what an amazing sight! How I could imagine what it must be like to be so close to space and the surrounding beauty. You took me there with your words Tina.

Very much enjoyed.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on

So glad I transported you to that truly beautiful place, Jenny...so good of  you to tell me in such a delightful way.  smiley

Tina