A view of Long’s Peak in the Rocky Mountains from Estes Park, Colorado, Photo credit; Joyce E. Johnson
ROCKY MOUNTAIN’S HIGH
Majestic, symbolic, touching near and far
in splendor each peak with
towering summits each speak
Of solid mass and might
commanding attention, they affect
park visitors that journey,
traveling through their portals high.
They stop to capture all its glory
focused through camera lens,
their eyes now scoping a huge black raptor,
his loud call proclaiming ownership to its prey.
It soars through void and space
shattering the solitude with ascent,
honoring the skies with its grace.
A climber grasps to reach
a pinnacle to the high
struggling through their efforts
with gasping and with sigh.
Then perched atop
what stretches far and wide
gazing over to the sights
of the Continental Divide.
Lodge Pole Pines grow thick beside
a mass of Douglass Fir and Spruce,
trees that cover the mountain’s side
stops where the tundra’s
soft moss bed lies,
rich with colors, green and blue.
Cold winds blow, the air is chilled
Aspen leaves turn a golden hue.
dropping quickly to the ground.
Layers of snow and ice soon cling
to the mountain slopes’ thick white fields.
Layers that repeat through winter months
with each snowfall, the skiers come,
leaving their tracks upon the slopes
until it warms and the sun melts all,
and the runoff begins, and the rivers flow.
All who come seeking their own experience here
will take away their memories of these
awe-inspiring peaks.
___________________
Joyce E. Johnson © 2016
