SNOW, GLACIERS AND AIR

Lyell Creek is in-sync with the universe the first week in June.
I love to go wandering through lodgepole pine forests
after the last spring snowstorms.
I wonder at the blueness of the sky
and the clear crystal aqua-colored streams.
The song of the water is harmonious.

My heart may not be beating but I must be alive
With all this beauty around who needs to breath?
Check my pulse! I am drawn like a magnet yet free to roam
in a constant state of suspended animation.
The Beauty of God's creation fills my mind with hymns.

The snow is carried by the wind and forms snowdrifts
like cumulus clouds against boulders and trees.
I float across them with my boots on six feet above the ground.
The snow is crisp, white and spiritual like frosting on a wedding cake.

Walk without snow shoes. Leave your metal, wood and leather frames behind!
Man-made things are much too heavy for this alpine world above the world.
Just bring your wings! Angels prefer to fly and so do I.

Further up the creek you'll find an open u-shaped valley
between High Sierra peaks on the way to Vogelsang camp.
Mt. Lyell is on your right and the Kuna Crest to your left.
The climate has become warmer since the Little Ice Age
and the glaciers are gone because the rate of snowfall
doesn't exceed the rate at which my heart melts.

Beauty leaves me speechless
and Poetry comes later as an afterthought.

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On the Way to Tioga Pass

Mt. Hoffman's a mountain, in the center of the park
Halfway up 120, in the middle of the stars,
turn left at the driveway, then walk up a mile.
May Lake is in season, a sea of alpine flowers.
If you're energetic, hike up to the top
there you can see Venus, Mercury and Mars.
The Canyon of Tuolumne isn't very far
if you're looking northerly find the Northern Star.

Eastward from your lookout, looking easterly
the Sierra Crest is looming through the foggy sea
taking shape portentious marvelous to see
unknown but to Hoffman, Johnny Muir and me -
not that it's a private members only club -
Yosemite is public that is Olmsted's Point.
Take a look at Half Dome from your window seat
monumental marmots playing at your feet.

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THE SENTINEL ROCK WATCH

Sentinel Rock is watching
solid uplifted granite floats
or is it soaring above the clouds?
Sentential, but not judgmental.
Don't be afraid! It's not a cruel super-ego
but a misty mountainous moment
and an earth-shattering purveyor of dreams.

It guards the entrance of a sumptuous valley
from the invasion of quicky look-sees
and hides discreetly behind exiting visitors
who relive momentous visions of Yosemite
through rear-view mirrors.

In the misty moonlight its crystalline structures
cast quartz-filled luminescent shadows
over magnificent moonstruck never-never-lands
and flood forests and meadows with light.

Look out carefully
for those on a spiritual journey
and guard the value of inwardly lookers!

Drums are rolling in the Awahnee Village
as bird whistles pierce the night
Voices shout "ho" in unison.
Warning! You may only enter the lodge
if you won't take pictures
and you don't show signs of being a woman.

"I need to have wind.
I need to have magnetic mysteries,
mutually contagious wonderings
and laughter," she admits.

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THE MERCY MERCED

Just beyond Half Dome where clouds rest
Hidden Falls tumble over granite walls
and create wind-blown rainbows.

Tenaya Creek then finds a resting place in Mirror lake
with crystalline waters and glistening waves.

The Merced is peacefully serene
as it flows into emerald pools of emerald green
and sings a rhapsody while meandering through meadows.

A miraculous river in a never never land
born into the Sierra a forever wonderland
moving ever downwards into the San Joaquin
then forever onwards into the sea of green
avoiding every danger and never has to cross
the continental slipping of the San Andreas Fault.

Out into the ocean above the Pacific plate
flowing never knowing Chief Tenaya’s fate.
Paiutes, Miwoks and Indian braves
find safety in numbers and shelter in caves.

Never look backwards never behind
the path of devotion is patient and kind
no more commotion a meeting of minds.

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