What the Mountain Says

Some days I can tell what the mountain is saying.

Light plays against each leaf, so close

I could hold the mountain here in my hand.

Cloud shadows pass over, giving homage.

The tall mountain ash quivers in the wind,

a girl new to womanhood,

shining light back at the mountain.

The pokeberry spreads gloriously

at the base of the mountain,

mirroring its shape like a cool lake.

The cat and kitten tumble and scurry,

joyous to live by the mountain.

The locust tree holds her long arms perfectly still,

to frame the mountain in beauty.

I feel the mountain only in my heart.

The mind can hear but not know.

The mountain's heart speaks to my heart,

but her meaning is deeper, from the womb.

Perhaps I bleed some of the mountain into the ground.

Perhaps she pulls me into her, 

making me die, making me be born.

Annelinde Metzner 
July 1995