The woman and child in bathing suits
Trudge, plough, step high over dunes,
Crunch ice for footing, in measured stride.
Turning about, they leap on the saucer and fly
Down merrily pitted slopes into raptures,
Finding their break against banking snow…

Mountain winter defies the order,
Denies the bonding of elements.
The wooded snow and the falling wind
Force the repentance of birdsong.
Unbroken sun razes gooseflesh,
Floods snow, and drowns the senses,
Pitched in broken bottle rainbow battle
With trenchant ice-cold mountain streams.

Turning about, they fly to the patronage
Of local rebel ethers.
Settling into the mountain's lap
They bask in untimely solstice.
Measuring with our watches,
We ignore the whimsy of Mother Earth.
Shattering sense to our goggling eyes,
She reminds us of her stubborn clout.

-- 
Uche
11 June 1995, Yosemite National Park