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.