On top of this summit we touch a hundred million years... Imagine what these rocks have seen; envision our brief history in relation to them; perspectives upon perspectives... There, as we drift by those rocks of our Northern Shield lakes. we can know thousands upon thousands of seasons. So many passages of peoples, of animals... So beautifully carved by tons of ice and countless storms of snow. Deep in this canyon we also embrace the millenia, the timeless, the endless... We raft through ages upon ages, eons upon eons, among layer upon layer of time. Time though, is an unknown concept to such a canyon. Yet it still shares with us, allows us to touch a hundred million years... What a gift in being able to enjoy the memories of such earth and rock and timelessness, in touching a hundred million years and more... DSD
My appreciation to D. Tomlinson for the above images.
A flick of lightning to the north
ReplyDeletewhere dun clouds grumble-
while here in the middle of the wash
black beetles tumble
and horned toads fumble
over sand as dry as bone
and hard-baked mud and glaring stone.
Nothing here suggests disaster
for the ants' shrewd play;
their busy commerce for tomorrow
shows no care for today;
but a mile away
and rolling closer in a scum of mud
comes the hissing lapping blind mouth of the flood.
Through the tamarisk whine the flies
in pure fat units of conceit
as if the sun and the afternoon
and blood and the smells and the heat
and something to eat
would be available forever, never die
beyond the fixed imagination of a fly.
The flood comes, crawls thickly by, roaring
with self-applause, a brown spongy smothering liquid avalanche:
great ant-civilizations drown,
worlds go down,
trees go under, the mud bank breaks
and deep down underneath the bedrock shakes.
Water from Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire
Best read with Cloud Generator by Tycho playing in the background.
Wonderful Jeff...
ReplyDeleteThank you,
DSD
Having spent a fair amount of time in the bottom of the Grand Canyon and roaming around and on glaciers, I can relate specifically to this post. It brought back many fond memories. The first time I hiked into the bottom of the Grand Canyon in 1981, it changed my life forever in a profoundly positive way and I wish everyone the opportunity to share the experience.
ReplyDeleteJust pointing out, the poem's name is actually "Flash Flood". I am reading Abbey's book of poetry Earth Apples and that is it's title in the book.
ReplyDelete