angelic assist

supernatural event in a very natural wild world when in a tight spot

up the mountain cold

sweating beads of salt 

parched skin vaporized in high altitude air

flakes of white dust bits of silica fly

as boots raise friction scrambling for footholds

in the loose, 

the rotten granite scree

dan and i fatigued beyond the norm

reaching for white clouds of his summit,

fernando pass, mineral king 

california's sierra nevada spine 

meaning snowy saw in spanish tongue 

aptly named these jagged peaks

all we wanted was one tooth of this saw

and we climbed its narrow edge to its pointed cap

altitude at 14,342 feet above the pacific

the sawtooth peak

at its descent we contrived

at day's journey end

remunating  around a pitch tar fire

of ancient conifer's stump

around its black smoke and heat

to do our 32 mile back country loop

through the rim of a canyon deep

and up to the pass of fernando's mountain

11,000 feet

in the morn' we set out

topographical map in hand 

with time's constraint cross through 

beaten switchback's paths delineations

desperate choice bred by miscalculation's 

human limit's neglect

so it was we were caught between destination 

the thin air's top 

through and past the narrow gap 

and race with descending dark

upward trudged past the lower bands 

of elevation and flora's shadowed sun's relief

to out of water labored breathing

anxiety ridden disequilibrium

near heats' stroke, death succumb

in temperatures 90's F

on we plod undeterred

gasping breaths sucked past our parching lips

testy strides, intermittent microbursts' rude quips

dan below behind scowling low

to the ground stirring for a row

despite our solid friendship's

feeble hearts' fading fast

to the eastern sloping side i glimpse

peripherally a splotch of white 

fully naked in the august sun

single snowbank size of a tennis court

resting on the slope

kneeling thereupon an unearthly being

garbed in roman's attire type of garb

surreal, yet not glowing, yet larger than the norm

like human form, this angel messenger; 

a guardian

his leather straps projecting downward from the waist

on one knee flat atop the snow

the other bared,

horizonal with femured thigh

supporting crook of forearm's elbow placed 

grasped cup in that hand, 

from a hundred yards i saw

silently,

he turn his stoic facial gaze

toward me contact was made

pointing to the sky his scabbord sword

his right hand rested so, its hilt

telepathically summons me

come approach for drink

only in retrospect now i see

bewildered and amazed

how it was a mortal man and he

the unexplained it matters not

just as we accept most everything in our sundry states

unhesitatingly obey with nonchalance

in times of desparate need

such state of mind, induced by flesh 

weak so close to death

upon this wild's rough foreign place

was risk of sun's heat prostration's stroke 

i call to dan a choking raspy belch of sound

and trudge away from our course to oasis island snow

icy crystals clawed in our hands rejoicing with our tongues 

bathed cool soothing down

our swollen mouths and throat

astounded by a sight no one else but he and i that day beheld