Mount Rainier Poem by Prafulla Sahu

Mount Rainier



They call it Mount Rainier
Built up by many folds of hardened lava
And tephra
I see
A suspended top of sizzling vanilla cone or
A temple of cooked white rice
Hanging from the sky

They call it Tacoma, the mother of waters
Heavily glaciated top
With ice filled craters
I see
A silver water meadow that dazzles round the year streaming down into
a brook of silver light
They say
Glaciers here flow down its flanks of perennial snow
I see
The the humble mount wooing the pines down the ground
They say
Volcanic vents issue current of hot gas springs that corrode the surrounding rock of lava and loose rubble mix to crumble,
and make a bed of unstable altered rock to slide fast
I hear
A warning note to the stinging poles who dare trek the peak

They call it a stratovolcano, tall and tough

I call it a queen of mountains,

Water bathes her foot
Lush green leaves make a robe round her waist
She wears a crown of snow.

The queen of mountains
under the cave of ice
Loves to take a steam bath
with mineral laden hot waters down the surface of caldera

To glow like an orange in morning sun
Waiting for sunshine of a sunny day.

The pines, flowers around and the birds over
Dangle and flap, whisper and chirp:

Hail to thee, the white queen of Washington.