To The Summit

The mountain range whose 
reputation for adventure, 
endurance, alpine treasures
and immense vistas compel
the hardy to set foot with
backpacks and expectations
of discovering the inner pioneer
in them all, beckons. The trails
are well laddered with the
agonized twisting roots of
stunted trees coping with the
hostility of the height and the
atmosphere that welcomes the
harshest of weather conditions.
The mountain slopes are well
littered with offcast rocks and
boulders, silent on the lower
reaches with the dark coolness 
of the forest canopy and fragrant 
with the fullness of damp pine scent. 
A Northern thrush, sensing a 
rainstorm approaching, throats its 
paean to life's cycles. And soon an
oven bird begins its metronomic
beat of high notes of supreme
purity, the audible portion of
nature's self-fulfillment whose
visual counterpart is displayed in 
the forest floor's lilies-of-the-valley
carpeting of sublime essence, its
dogwood and bracken understory,
its massive oak, hemlock, pine
and yellow birch sentinels
standing watch for the struggling
lesser botanics of the treeline
where stunted oak, laurel and 
azalea play host alongside
mountain sorrel and the steeply
welcoming paths to the summit.