Do not enter: Rainbows
on the water, echoes flying
through the tunnels
and a slow clock dripping time.
Red-faced warblers in the oaks
and trampled grasses on the meadow
where a bear walked on the way
to the pass with a view
all the way to Mexico.
Peligroso: There’s poison in the shadows
where once upon a springtime
ore was a gleam
in the mountain god’s eye.
A boiler holds its ground
by the switchback in the trail
where the sycamores listen
for trogons calling. April
on the upper slopes, blue distance
and sunlight. Stay clear: The darkness
inside can’t find a way back
to being air again.
.
David Chorlton
.