Hamilton Mountain has some interesting inhabitants I met one of them last week while hiking the North Ridge trail.

Bits falling off,
These last hundred years–
I’m down to my core,
But that’s enough to keep me standing
Here above Hardy Creek.

How long? I’m not good with numbers
But I was in my power when Tatoosh the Thunderer
Shook the gods on Table Mountain
Cast their stones into Big River
Made the dam the Peoples called
Bridge of the Gods.

Summers later, toothed steel
Cut down my children for men’s lodges.
The last of my sons taken, I watch.
A bent old man, they left me, unwanted.

There’s a grandson on the bank below.
Next season he’ll be taller than I,
Tall against the winds and snows
That fill the winter canyon.

His seed will be strong,
Enough to bring my family back.
They will sink their roots in the stream’s water
Below the steep hillside.

Each day I am diminished.
Time to let it go.