Rocky Mountain High

Apple

Of my eye…

Why did anyone name

New York City

The Big Apple?

Surely they never saw

The Rocky Mountains

For these juicy peaks  

Appear to be

The biggest apples

That my eyes have ever picked

Rock Steady

Silent witness

Your jagged edges

Pierce the sky

Like a royal crown in sunlight

Rendering beautiful and warm

The cold ugly fact that

Our lives can feel

Broken

Craggy

Irregular

Rugged

Uneven

Barbed

Cleft

And we can still stand strong

(Don’t know where I’m going

Just know that I am

Happy to be 

Here,

Where I am, for

Now

How long does Here & Now last?)

There is no throne on Earth

That can raise anyone

To the level of your majesty

And yet people prostrate

Before petty thrones

Encrusted with jewels

Splintered from your sides

In  a farcical display

Of missing the peak

By magnifying the Human Ego

At the expense of the Environment

Great Mountains:

Dissolve our arrogance

Our ignorance

Our folly

And our greed

Humbled by the persistent creed

Of a presence so lovely and generous

May we realign

With a real source of

Awe

Praise be

Mountain Spirits

~ Sandi H.

Boulder, Colorado

Summer 2018