climbing this cold mountain
half your face in shadow
moon which daytime cloud
have you made your nest in
immense turbine blades
are rising and falling
above the trees
above the roar of traffic
where a cold hiker
can feel drawn
to a dark twist of roots
suspended above a ravine
or a cliff shaggy
with hipster icicles
along a trail designed
by the national park service
to showcase 'a gateway
to western settlement'
i keep mistaking the sound of the turbines
for my own pulse
a runner in ultralight shoes
shadowed by clouds of breath
keeps his eyes on the ground
a steady incline
built to haul canal boats
over the allegheny front
while below the trail
in a 200-year-old culvert
for a creek that's wandered
off into another bed
i gape at stalactites of ice
dripping into a pool
bright with late afternoon sun
the whole glowing summit
captured there
under an arch of mortared stone
the red west of sunset
here and now
no need to ride
off into it
***
For more, see the NPS website.
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