mountain, how can I please you

Mountain, how can I please you

we fumble cards in a game of chance,
we clash wills in solitude.
Your familiar touch whispers
all I love in watercolor ridge lines.
Your passages open faithfully,
but I miss the sea;
I cannot serve two masters,
back and forth,
from one to the other.
I love that you bare
a broad chest to me,
that you roar your waterfalls,
and try cunningly to copy the sea.
But you are cold,
I cannot dream you warm.
You cannot help your heavy cliffs
& pregnant trees,
or stop the overhang of darkened leaves.
Some days I lead you on
with love poems;
secretly, I hide and yearn for open sun.

Reviews

[JohnL]

When I return to where I live from inland jaunts, I savour the smell of the sea. I am never long away from it. It calls me. I sing the sea-songs of Masefield and know peace and adventure both.
I wander the hills (from 'whence cometh my help' Psalm 121 I think) and breathe the freshness of the cataract. I am never long away from hills, either. Each scenario has its beauty, its claim upon me. Are these my two masters? Can I serve both? You pose an eternal question - unanswerable; for did not the mountains spring from the sea. Is not the rain which forms their torrents lifted then blown in from the sea? You pose the question well however as you still offer choice. We still wrestle with the question - maybe one day we'll find an answer - Mountain or sea? - I just don't know. Your poem makes me want to explore both further Aahhh! The power of language well used. Thank you.
John

[W.k.kortas]

And for this, the mountains bow their heads.

[C.T. Bailey]

Filled with fresh syntax Ms Phibby, and it is not remiss of that "Phibby wow factor." Always, your writing is full of the weighty matters that fill the minds of poets and the contempletive thoughts of lovers. I love these two: "roar your waterfalls," and "cannot dream you warm." These two metaphors provide the key insight to gaining the understanding that you wish to grant the reader. Once again Phibby, I find myself in full appreciation of your style and craftsmanship. Terrific.

Todd

[Ed Hart]

oh boy, do i know what you mean

[Fabian G. Franklin]

To choose between mountains and sea is not a task that I would envy. I am blessed to live in a state where we have both however. I love the sea but she is an unpredictable mistress...the mountain is safe and sheltering. So I visit the ocean when there are no forecasts of tropical storms, typhoons or hurricanes but I live in these mountains secure between the hills as if they were my mother's arms. Wonderful write love, I always enjoy reading your work!

[Emily B]

I think if I hang around long enough, I can hear the mountain whisper back . . . it is a lovely poem. I walk in these same footsteps very often.