Morning fire at White River camp.

Tahoma’s face in glacial ice
blooms over the still camping ground –
a volcanic flower rising
above the valley, in cedar
blanketed, in fir, spruce, hemlock;
it opens in ridged fields of ice,
as petals in colors of snow
unfolding on drowsing campers
who wake in frigid morning slate,
yawning beneath the evergreens
as first light through the dawn filters.

Awake, awake! Time waits for you.
Blow your mortal breath on these sticks
until hesitant flames quicken
into the life and warmth you seek.

White River’s silted grit and seethe
hidden in shadows of cold dawn
rushes in crumbling rock and scrub.
In her rumbling and scurried flow
she waits for none who stir their fires;
spreads herself over valley floor
gathering gravel, stones, boulders
into thunking cacophony
telling of time and its passing
to the Salish sea and beyond.

Awake, awake! Time will not wait
for you to blow on your morning fire.
A path leads across the river
to the high country camping ground.

Portland, Oregon – April 28, 2016

“Tahoma” is one of the native tribal names for what is commonly called Mt. Rainier (Washington state -USA). “Ti’Swaq” is the name chosen by the Alliance to Restore Native Names. It means “the sky wiper” because it touches the sky.

The photo of Tahoma and the White River valley is my own, taken from White River campground on a late summer day.