Come to the Summit With Me*

Come to the summit with me.
We will stand where few have.

Before us
The land undulates
From gentle swells
To dramatic peaks
Thrust skyward
By unfathomable Tectonic plates
Glistening
In burnished sunlight
Dappled
By ancient forests
Of evergreen and pine
Oak and birch
Swathed in mists
The color of squirrel pelts
Casting to chambray skies
The aromas of autumn mornings.

We will ford cold mountain streams
Laughing across table rocks
We will scale troubled crags
Seeking finger holds
Few have grasped
Rising upward
In defiance of civilized convention
And domestic routine.

Come to the summit with me.
We will settle into the earth tonight
Faces heavenward
To drink draughts
Of the fiery cosmos.
Gazing into eternity’s starry eyes
We will slumber
Guarded by the shimmering Dog Star.

Before dawn
Jupiter will lay on the horizon
Mars burns red above the peaks
And high
Behind the starry sickle
Venus will shine.
Saturn yawns
Beneath an autumnal crescent moon.

Come to the summit with me.
We will rest upon volcanic upheavals
Dance with granite shafts
Ascending slate and shale
Reaching for September skies.

Forsake
For a season
Urban distraction
And assorted neon avenues.

Come to the summit with me.


*Remembrances of Lilly and a long-ago Appalachian adventure.