Mist floats high upon the cool gray sky

Stillness broken by the red hawks cry

Dawn breaks slow in the mountains cool

Dewdrops form into a pool



Mountain laurel blooms fill the air

A Nuthatch sings without a care

Clouds float across like peaceful dreams

Brook trout play in cold clear streams



White pines tower, ferns carpet the ground

Sheer rock faces with waterfalls abound

Day lilies reach for the sun through the trees

Blackberries, muscadines, and honeybees



White tail deer run free and play

Black bear cubs sleep all day

Grandfather Mountain reaches higher than most

Cross her bridge and you can boast


Appalachian Trail runs through its heart

Through the Blue Ridge Mountains from its start

Breathe taking beauty for all to see

The lord and his handy work will ever be

© William Power 2011

We were admiring the summer muscadines
I mentioned that my one experiment
In making wine resulted in only
A series of dramatic explosions

And he spake unto me:

Better that, far better, than to be Condemned
Grapes are for jelly, or you’ll be Condemned
Not for Strong Drink, no, or you’ll be Condemned
If you use grapes for wine you’ll be Condemned

He said on a hellishly hot summer day
Then he returned to baling my Catholic hay

The Wurlins sweeten muscadines on the vine , gather morning dew
in Petunia buckets , hollow out acorns to carry their Clover honey lunches
They ride June bugs by the light of the Moon
Entice Tree frogs to strike up a tune
Make Huckleberry wine and Sassafras brandy
Pecan coffee and Honeysuckle candy*....

Former hotels and restaurants sit like tomatoes dying on the vine ...
Filling stations are like ghost on this highway , long abandoned but still
advertising ... Empty shells line State Route 29 , Hwy. 42 and 41 for many miles , old wood barns with ' See Rock City ' still visible from the roadside , ancient billboards rusting , antique tractors frozen and left to die , once busy , vibrant thoroughfares now have a car or two once in awhile ..  Antique stores and tourist stops that sold peaches , muscadines and pecans plus other southern treats make eerie noises now with no folks left to visit ..
Owners left to query their insignificance , boarded establishments flapping in the wind , gutted homes now prisoners of rain and the elements , grass struggles , breaking free from it's asphalt jailer , barbed wire fence shredded , no trespassing signs laying beside silent roadways ... What terror befell the people when the interstate claimed her prize , what alternatives were available during theses harrowing times ...