The volcano is still a mountain
For it can catch clouds
Force the rain to fall
Sculpt nearby hills.
Gone is its snowy top
Thousands of feet lost
To air, sky, and atmosphere
Settled down to ash and dust.
But this just gives birth
To new open lands
Where the wild chipmunk
Is a bit more exposed, and
The eagle hangs upon new
Thermals and air currents
They...
Who live close know
The volcano is still a mountain.
The volcano invites you to watch
The slow tangle of clouds
Talk & tumble amongst themselves
The new grasses that make up
desert-like fields, inhabit space
Where tall evergreens once stood.
Creeks have been given new paths.
Even a group of crows
Crying in their best city voices
Cannot break the volcano’s presence.
They appear like children at a playground
Full of noise, laughter, bratty, and playful.
The volcano welcomes these tricksters.
Unlike the city, there is plenty of room for
Them to wander off and stillness returns.
Which is enough for you to notice.
Notice what the volcano wants you to see.
The distant lake sandwiched between
A valley under the veil of rain,
Small dune-like hills of old ash.
The cougar, elk, and mountain goat’s
Footprints, along with yours, embedded
In the leftover dust of the mountainside.
Fragile prints on top of bare earth.
But it is stillness.
That is the volcano's most important reveal.
For the sights that surround you
Stand still, as if they were painted time
Frozen on easel and canvas.
Here, you can look and see
With eternity in your eyes
Even though you know
Everything is forever temporary
And you are but a stroke of a paintbrush
That is still moist.
24 comments on The Volcano
MoonCat 