The Mountain Pass

 

The summits hidden deep within dark-streaked

clouds loom over the landscape of a vast forest

whose vivid greens ignore the muting effect of

rain-sodden clouds glowing effervescent green

wisps of mist rising from the interior of the ethereal

tableau of a mountain pass, a sprawling weather front

dripping with the remainder of a recent outburst 

when thunder rolled through, replaced by the 

sweet trill of thrushes. The pond below catching

the run-off of the granite slopes, the scree where

stunted pines gained roothold above the treeline

newly flushed down the mountainside into the

valley below. Then all is still in the early dusk as

birds settle in for the night and the clouds impale

themselves for a stay on the inviolate peaks.