Mountain Province
Listen. The mountains
speak to us
with moistened earth
whispering down a slope.
These trees encircling
are ancient spirits.
Very slowly they caress
wind and rain
Sun and moon and star
in misty prayer.
And the rumblings
we carve for our passage
Become futile.
For these mountains
move by themselves.
Their language is
Much older than ours.
When they shudder
we crawl and claw and regather
earth in our earth-
Bound bodies.