Winter mountain poem

Dear Mountain, I hear you
Are sick of the beautiful slopes
My glaciers spent so much time
Laying with debris. Listen:
If it’s a simple question
Of immensity and loneliness,
I can send a flock of birds
With strange songs of consolation,
Or a snow leopard deeply disciplined
To soothe you with its paws and purr.
My starlings keep good time
And my cat’s as lithe as one of your
Silvery veins. But if it’s more warmth
You need, more than what a small body
Can provide, I grant you permission
(If you’ll allow) to be patient, to muse,
And to wait for spring while I build
Another mountain.