Rebecca Swan – I Know You Wild Skykomish
I know you wild Skykomish River I know you
glaciers melting in the warm spring air
and you – rushing down the mountain full of snowmelt
roaring and shaking the ground, the granite boulders,
the granite mountains
I know you too my wild Skykomish
wide and quiet in a mountain meadow
flanked by a million tiny flowers
singing in the dawn with crystal notes
murmuring through starry nights
I know where you come from my wild Skykomish
deep in the turquoise heart of translucent ice caves
following a serpentine trail through the grandfather hemlocks
past carpets of tiny liberty cap mushrooms
glistening like jewels in the dew
I come to you when I’m done with the rushing traffic,
the clatter of machines, the rough scream of chain saws,
the endless slap slap slapping of my windowshield wipers
I come to you my wild Skykomish
and touch my soul again.
Rebecca Swan
May 2008
January-February 2010 Earth First!
