Alpine Soul

On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. Psalm 145:5

An Ode to Collegiate Peaks

Traversing the vast high plains
towards the dawning peaks 
of snow-capped grace,
her purple mountain majesty 
beckons me home.

Rising from the river valley below,
like a pyramid in the desert,
her rapid incline will give you pause.
Awe-inspiring yet surreal, 
she reveals God’s creativity.

Forming the Great Divide
with crest upon crest of 14ers,
where the golden leaves of quaking aspens 
dance in the chinook breeze below.

Her snow melts in the summer 
and flows east to form the Arkansas River 
which feeds the mighty Mississippi.
To the west, she nourishes the Roaring Fork
leading to the Colorado River, 
quenching the thirst of many.

From atop her rugged range,
where the Ute tribe once roamed,
she kisses the heavenly blue.
When the morning light shines 
on her summits of snow,
even the spruce and the pine 
sing praises to God. 

Until your feet touch her path,
she seems like an illusion,
reflecting God’s power and glory,
with an intangible grandeur.

So I set my sights 
on her Mount Harvard,
climbing the summit 
from the south slope
winding through boulder fields.

Crystal clear Bear Lake 
nestled above the timberline 
displayed shimmering rainbow trout,
and I heard the high-pitched squall 
of an eagle’s cry echoing above.

Breathing in the crisp, sweet air,
and revived by the intense sun, 
I witnessed God’s character 
in the splendor and the wonder 
surrounding me.

Even after all these years, 
just seeing her picture 
brightens my soul and
I claim this view as my own.

Collegiate Peaks in the Sawatch Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America is located in San Isabel National Forest, near the town of Buena Vista, Colorado. There are 8 fourteeners (mountains over 14,000 feet in elevation) located within the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness. These include Mount Yale, Oxford, Columbia, Harvard, Huron Peak, Missouri Mountain, Mount Belford, and La Plata Peak. 

Photo credit: Mount Princeton Moonset by Darren White 

Poetry type: Free Verse, Ode
Prompt: dVerse