Elemental Survival

The enduring elements of Nature's 
primeval presence gather their raw 
dominance on a landscape of mountains,
rockslides, treeline, granite slopes
and alpine specimens among the
dwarf struggling oak and pine bared 
to surviving those hostile elements 
of an atmosphere inimical to life. 
Yet there eagles and vultures soar, 
riding the power of the wind hurling 
dark clouds of bruised hue littering the
summits with snow and hail, freezing 
the azure ponds left by the summer-melt 
of glaciers dripping under the influence 
of sun, until the calendar returns to its 
allotted seasonal exchange of the 
elements, gearing themselves to the 
timeless inevitable of Nature's 
implacably divine master plan.