She Awaits

image by glenn buttkus

She Awaits

“When you have reached the mountain top, then you shall

begin to climb--for when the earth shall claim your limbs,

only then shall you truly dance.”--Khalil Gibran.

I rise in the dark before dawn, waiting for my brother. When he

arrives with the apple fritters, the coffee is ready. We clean our

twin cameras, though mine is more beat up, discussing the two

years we have circumnavigated Mt. Rainier, cataloging all her

moods & looks. We hop into my bright red SUV, driving early

& fast toward the east, the Cascade foothills, the lair of the

majestic Ice Queen. 

It’s still dark when we turn off the highway, and start up the

graveled forest service road, following Huckleberry Creek.

We eagerly take the cut-off, seven miles straight up the

winding road to Sun Top, a ranger fire look-out station,

high above the thick fir forest. We park a mile from the top

and hike the rest of the way, just as the sun is cresting and

its searing tangerine rays coat everything. Half a mile from

the top, we get our first full glimpse of the mountain, its glaciers

still deep in snow--the singing sunrise smearing its slopes with

strawberry kisses.

From Sun Top we feel

we could touch Mt. Rainier, so

we do with our lenses.

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub Haibun