Posted April 6, 2022 by Sheri Edwards art

Hymn In The Mountains

Daily Note

Every day, a photograph, a poem. As I searched my photos for places of awareness and change, I remembered this drive across Highway 20, a scenic and beautiful drive across Washington State. Beautiful views.

I decided to write poetry and create art based on this photo:

Hymn in the Mountains
In the mountains of Highway 20 in the summer a green lake beckons travelers to stop and gaze at nature’s beauty, though the lake is a reservoir behind a large dam. On hot days, this highway— in the North Cascades —is a cool and scenic drive. Closed in winter due to avalanche danger, it draws visitors as soon as the road opens again. Lately, the highway has been closed in summer, due to the wildfires of global warming.
In 2017 we drove across in July, enjoying the mountain heights and forest greenery, breathtaking views and a respite from the heat of the valleys of eastern Washington.
Stopping at Ross Lake, we found no other vacationers in the usually busy highway rest area of scenic views. As we stepped out of the van, the reason for few people blew us, literally, back into the car. We pushed the doors against the wind and let them slam back closed after grabbing our jackets. We turned our backs against the wind and spun around to put on each sleeve, finally able to wrap the jacket tightly around and lean against the wind to walk the paths and stretch our legs after hours of riding.
At the edge of granite boulders, gazing down across the tops of pine and fir, we witnessed the wind surfing the emerald lake with waves and ripples easily viewed from our vantage point far up the mountain. And the whistle of the wind and the “EEEE” of the pika hiding in the rocks sang to us as the only evidence of other companions.
Emerald waves raced
forest shore to more, hymn
by wind and pika.
Sheri Edwards
040622 097.365.22
Poetry/Photography