in our rocky mountain vistas
and certain landscape
paintings
our imaginings are captured

sometimes clear and ordered
in others stormy patterns
hiding then revealing
dark and jagged forms
almost hearing the hawk's
invisible circling call

imagining ourselves on
precipitous mountain paths
blown by shifting icy winds
vertigo and dark crevices
fearsome obstacles foreshadowing
impending loss     then

most suddenly we return
to our observation places
warmth safety comfort
as before
our imagined landscape fears
now engulfed transformed
within a joyous
pervading light
a jolting new experience
mysteriously named by some
as the sublime

the word a gentle quiet
merging
of beauty and twin terrors
fear and loss

might we then find
in this our landscape viewing
a rehearsal
for life's dark confrontations
and on a promising day
enfold transmute and
with ecstatic labor
discover true beginnings
new births
reaching this time
a friend
we know and name
our sublime