permanence vs. impermanence

(note: "Ukiah" is a town in northern California (coastal valley Mendocino County) that is surrounded by rolling hills and lush forests.)

February 22, 2001
Thursday, late a.m.

UKIAH HILLS

How can I be so miserable
in the midst of all this glory;
Sentenced within these hills of gold
to my small, pathetic story?

All of the valleys, every creek,
will remain when my sparks are ashes;
Steady, eternal winds still speak
when the reign of mankind crashes.

To touch the ever-changing skies
we'll sacrifice all reason;
The glist'ning blue that fills our eyes
will always be in season.

Yet all that's ours will someday flee,
passing joys and petty sorrows;
Like wisps of fog that brush the tree,
our cares are not tomorrow's.

And thus I am resigned to note
how transient is this grief;
How soon my every word is smote
and fallen
like
a
leaf.