and great distance
memories unfold
like elaborate origami sculptures
I see soaring ramparts
of sky-piercing mountains
forested tier upon tier
with enormous sitka spruce
scattered brewers
known as the weeping spruce
the most beautiful of the conifer
whose branches in summer
display sunlight
as a jeweler’s velvet
showcases a gem
and always beautiful fae Lauma
the earthen forest spirit
clad benevolent in glorious old growth
conifer robe — rich and regal green
she whispers
in wind-stirred
lawson cypress
towering ponderosa pine
and douglas fir
her enchantment
wafts down emerald climbs
to brush softly my cheek
in brisk spritely breeze
a heady fresh bouquet
of invigorating conifer
dashed tantalizingly
with tangerine-scented white fir
a fragrance rivaled only
by the loamy sweet spice
of the rough-tufted red cedar
and eternal the forest fae Lauma
clad benevolent in glorious old growth
conifer robe — rich and regal green
hair of silken white-spun cloud
the dogwood’s brilliant leaves
big-leaf maples
pendulous western maples
tight ranks of dark-green sadler oak
the golden shimmer
and crisp crackle
of white-barked aspen
these are the mountains
and forests of my oregon home
where I will someday return
to dance with the bewitching fae Lauma
eyes blue-green as the realm she dwells
clad benevolent in glorious old growth
conifer robe — rich and regal green
to share whispers of the mighty wood
and reclaim my high-mountain heart
now I have only
sweet recall
even in the faded light
of distant memory
these visions leave me breathless
rob kistner © 2020
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Maybe there’s a touch of Tennyson in you, eh? Very nice.
Thank you Shay… 🙂
“Divinest Atalantis, whom the waves
Have buried deep, and thou of later name,
Imperial Eldorado, roofed with gold” ALFRED TENNYSON
Beautiful! But even more beautiful…
“Down valley a smoke haze
Three days heat, after five days rain
Pitch glows on the fir-cones
Across rocks and meadows…
…Drinking cold snow-water from a tin cup
Looking down for miles
Through high still air.” GARY SNYDER
This bespeaks your love of Oregon, Rob, your familiarity with its woods eloquently portrayed. I visited one of the old forests once, and well remember standing in awe at their timelessness. Beautiful write!
Thank you Bev. Standing in the old growth, I feel what one might call god, but which I call the energy of nature. It is being touched by this pure power that I understood the pettiness of human greed, the destructive need for power, and the manipulative crutch and weapons that are politics and religions. There is nothing as powerful nor overwhelmingly majestic as nature. The fact that humans have cut off their authentic communication with, and reverence for the natural world — ghat is why there is so much stress, strife, anc sickness. We, as a species, are blind fools.
Rob, this is exquisite. A perfect depiction of the Oregon I have grown to love during the fifteen years I’ve called it home. I suspect we will ‘dance’ with the princess fae Lauma one day in the far distant future.
Thank you Helen… 🙂 I have come to enjoy my Seattle home. Washington is a wonderful State. But I love my Oregon. It is where my soul remains.
Gorgeous–the color and the scent mesh so well with this time of year and the outdoor spaces that are missed. Just amazing and glorious.
Thank you Chrissa… 🙂 I can no longer trek the depth of my beloved forests, failed health has closed that door to me physically — but my spirit will ever wander the wild and wonder filled!
I could walk through your poem all day Rob! This is utterly gorgeous!
Thank you Carrie… 🙂 oh how l’d love to walk with you, if only…
I agree with the others, just beautiful. I’m also an Oregonian. Well, just for the past nearly ten years. Before that a Northern Californian, but don’t hold that against me, I did say “Northern!”
Thank you Lisa… 🙂 …from Big Sir north, to the Alaskan wild, you’re in Xanadu… so welcome!
Your poem is so full of trees I can smell the pine resin. Is this the Oregon trail I’ve always dreamed of?
Interesting:
“scattered brewers
known as the weeping spruce”
The Pacific Crest Trail spans 2,650 miles, so you will encounter all of this magic and more, along the 455 miles of the Oregon segment. You will be amazed at the marvelous variety of fragrances you will experience, especially as you pass through the wild flowers abundant in high mountain meadows, and the kaleidoscopic Rhododendrons. What specifically inspires this poem is the old growth forest trails in the Lost Lake area in the northern Oregon Cascades — which includes a beautiful portion of the PCT.
There is something other worldly when you stand on a mountain top next to giant trees. I think there is a realization that we as humans are really small compared to the depth of nature. I love your references to the many trees and the spirit that holds nature together.
Beautifully woven poem. I’ve never seen a a weeping spruce. There are weeping willows here which I seem to relate well
with. On my walks I will stand under the boughs of wonderment.
Hi True, thank you. All of the natural world is woven together in the energy of Chi. Some will cry bunk, but let me tell you — when I am deep in an old growth ancient forest, I can feel it viscerally. Above me, in the canopy, around me in the living things, and brlow me in the root chambers. All connected in energy. And I can feel that all the forest and earth and rocks and animals — and all the living things know i am there, and that my heart is honest and grateful. I have had amazing things happen to me. I have come under the great canopy of the forest, exhausted and hungry, and with the Chi energy they have shared with me, I have been wholly reinvigorated. Animals have come on to the path and paused, and shared their gentleness and strength by their open gaze and trust. It is amazing. If someone has never gone to meditate and be one with wild nature, one cannot know. Once one does, one can never forget.
A beautiful ode to an eternal beauty
Happy Sunday Rob
much love…
Thznk you Gillena… 🙂
“these are the mountains / and forests of my oregon home / where I will someday return” – you make that such a precious vision! I hope you do!
Thank you qbit — I eill make it back someday. Either as a breathing body, or as adhes.
This is so beautiful…evidence of love for a place and time. Gorgeous poetry
Thank you Susie… 🙂