Haystack Ramble

From Geyser Pass through the woods,

we emerge into a bright green meadow

covered with all sorts of alpine flowers

high in the La Sal Mountains of Utah.

We rest just beneath the rocky slabs

of Haystack Peak and search the tundra

for rayless daisies that are known to grow

only here ten thousand feet above the

desert, and to our delight, these flowers

fall within our sight, and so we joyfully

begin our scramble up loose and wobbly

scree that causes us to slip once or twice,

until we gain the chilly summit so high

above the orange-gray sandstone arches

shimmering in waves of heat even though

our feet stand planted deep in crusty snow.