Headwaters

Up switchbacks to passes

we ride winded horses

through spruces, then grasses

ribboned with watercourses,

the Wind River's sources.

A trail called Highline

meanders through flowers

from treeline to snowline

where War Bonnet glowers

on Cirque of the Towers.

A bald eagle's shadow

plummets from its aerie,

then circles this meadow

whose cold waters carry

some hope to our prairie.

Timothy Murphy

From Very Far North, The Waywiser
Press, London, England, © 2002.
Reprinted by permission of the author.