Dreams of Half Dome

 

 The birds have vanished into the sky,
and now the last cloud drains away.

We sit together, the mountain and me,
until only the mountain remains.

Li Po (701-762) from The Enlightened Heart

Ansel Adams, "Half Dome and Moon"

I've been dreaming of mountains lately, of Yosemite, where I spent so many summers, climbing Half Dome, Half Dome Mountain Goddess,  who presides over the beloved valley.  Perhaps, I go there in my dreams sometimes, to see her blue in the moonlight, or white in snow, to touch her hot/cold granite face.  Here's another poem that came to mind today, thinking of mountain dreams,  by New Mexico poet Nancy Wood.



~My help is in the mountain~
 
    Where I take myself to heal
    The earthly wounds
    That people give to me.
    I find a rock with sun on it
    And a stream where the water runs gentle
    And the trees which one by one give me company
    And so I must stay for a time
    Until I have grown from the rock
    And the stream is running through me
    And I cannot tell myself from one lone tree.
    Then I will know that nothing touches me
    Nor makes me run away.
    My help is in the mountain
    That I take away with me.

    Earth cure me.  Earth receive my woe.
    Rock strengthen me.  Rock receive my weakness.
    Rain wash away my sadness.  Rain receive my doubt.
    Sun make sweet my song. 
   
      ~Nancy Wood~
from Hollering Sun (1972)