Devils Tower rises 1267 feet above Belle Fourche River, Wyoming.Photo by Richard F. Fleck.

Massive bear-clawed

columns rise into

the sky peppered

with roped climbers

working their way

ever upward some

eight hundred feet

above lodgepole pines

laced with prayer

flags fluttering in

a spirit wind. Such a

mass of sacred rock

gives testimony to the

very forces of creation

where puffy clouds drift

across the western skies.