Eldorado in the North Cascades © Ken James McLeod

 

Grant to me the meadows of the Alpine zone

Near hallowed and scenic mountains dressed white as bone,

With wildflowers swaying in the wind

Columbine, lupine, and paintbrush bloom and then rescind.

 

High among the craggy peaks are cold blue lakes

Nestled between the granite pockets of rock flakes,

Where the hermit thrush sings chorus to the cirque abound,

And the bees buzz the heather while the bear roam around.

 

The elk they graze on sweet grass over sacred land

Magestic bulls bugle rivals with antlers so grand,

The heard runs along a rushing little rill

While the coyote in the brush watches now standing still.

 

Amid the lofty peaks I now fare

With lungs filled of clean, pure, and magic air,

Touched by the awesome beauty and the simplicity of it all,

Makes me humble of a higher handiwork and I feel quite small.

 

And when I am old with brittle bone

Grant me the strength once more to return to the Alpine zone,

Let me rest here forevermore yet not alone

But surrounded by life where wild and noble beasts roam . . .

 

KJM

1994

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