The conference over, the city lies
quiet under a bright but chilly
morning, and my good trip has
gone a bit too long, the excitement
of new people, places, and ideas
having faded when my mood took
an anxious turn. And now my
flight is canceled, and there’s
a long wait for the next one,
and worries about when
I’ll get home.
But the airport observation deck
at least affords the mountain
views that have eluded me
for most of my stay, blocked
by commercial towers and bits
of scruffy urban sprawl. Here
the blue-grey peaks push up
from flats of dry, brown grass,
and a white wave of cloud
rolls up behind the ridge.
To settlers and adventurers, these
imposing peaks have proven
themselves both obstacles to
movement and gateways to
opportunity, but to me today
their rugged beauty is neutral,
a background of seeming stability
and permanence—though I know
that Nature takes a different
view—contrasting with the
temporary anxious flux of my
travel complications.
Copyright 2018
T. Allen Culpepper
