Those Beckoning Heights

The enduring elements of
Nature's primeval timelessness
present 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
at those dizzying heights when
wind shears through the summits
and sleet under low-slung clouds
of dark dimension treat the
landscape to its allotment of
nature unadorned and threatening.
Yet, there eagles and vultures
soar, riding the power of the
wind. And when the season is
benign by relative measures of
hope and anticipation, people for
whom the allure of those heights
remain a sustaining fascination,
ascend the slopes, scrambling
their way over boulders, between
crevices, and balance their lives
on the satisfaction of meeting
nature in her very own preserves.