Man as Mountain

Some tall and difficult to scale, split the sky with oppressive shards of gray.  Some, a landscape of rumpled blankets after a night of tossing and turning in uneasy sleep.  Groundwater beats under the surface, filling the veins of streams and rivers, running down into the heart of brackish river deltas and away into the sea.  Animals harbor the seasons deep in nooks and crevices, mere shades in the morning fog, like an idea just out of reach.

The mountain takes a breath in at dawn and sighs slowly at the end of the day, letting the exhalation tumble down through the trees, carrying the scent of fresh wildflowers and decaying leaves.  It freezes and thaws.  Green, living roots break through hardened boulders to teem new life on what was once barren ground; where no one thought anything of beauty could ever grow, living things persevere.  The mountain persists.

Photo courtesy of Destination360.com