Nature’s Sharing

View from on high
scree sprinkled deserts
once birch and ash amidst
pines’ shadow.

Down into the bowl,
rock barren reduced peaks,
yesterday’s snow clad mysteries.

Swirling fall leaves
sprinkle shimmering sun’s dalliance,
a fractal rainbow suspended,
terrace to terrace,
stair-step tiered,
switchbacks releasing mountain sides
having yielded long ago
its blueberries and acorn foraging.

Still further down…

Creeping slowly,
the brambles,
Nature’s love thorn creepers
enfold meadows where grasses thigh-high
bend to wind’s call to the basin.

Finally…

Tundra’s home offering:
a dog’s bark echoing up to
a mountain’s pinnacle silence
as breezes embrace a climbers’ bivouac-lullaby
luring mystical rising dust upward
accompanied by lavender fantasies,
a residual from Nature’s misty morning fog.

Later…

Lights of dusk from hamlets beyond
signal early stars on high
to keep safe these climbers,
this respect of Nature’s forever sharing
a gift offered that asks so little in return.