Elk Rock

So I sit here just thinking on Elk Rock today

It’s a name I came up with myself

It sticks out a bit from the top of the ridge

Just a very old, flat, sandstone shelf

First time I came up here just checking things out

I looked down and what did I see?

A half dozen Elk standing down by the creek

They were all lookin back up at me

They snorted a bit, tried to figure me out

Then turned and just trotted away

I decided right then that I’d call this Elk Rock

And I still call it that to this day

I can see the house just ‘bout a quarter mile off

Neath a Colorado blue sky

And down to the south Big Ute Mountain still covered

In snow so white it hurts your eyes

It gets windy up here so I hold my hat tight

Or down the canyon it goes

I ‘m careful to sit a bit back from the edge

When it really commences to blow

Now Winter this year was real long and dang frigid

But Spring has shown up here at last

The snow’s mostly melted, the creek’s running high

And Summer is coming on fast

On the way up today I found some fresh antlers

Just a half rack, not a full set

So somewhere round her is an unbalanced mule deer

But I haven’t spotted him yet

On Tuesday I flushed a small rafter of turkeys

Or maybe they kinda flushed me

They were cluckin and chirpin as they moved up the hill

A potential Thanksgiving spree

Now there’s always something that needs being done

Here on the Lazy Bob Ranch

But when the chore’s done I’ll head up to Elk Rock

If you give me just half a chance

Found an arrowhead one day layin there waiting

In the sunshine, I guess just for me

Made me think of the man who had crafted it slowly

And so very skillfully

What did he call this rock then I wondered?

Did he give it a name at all?

Did he hunt here in Summer and feed his small family

Did he leave with the cold in the Fall?

Did he watch the hawks as they flew up the canyon?

Like me did he gaze at the sky?

Did he  smile at the the breeze as the pine needles rustled?

Did the mountains down south catch his eye?

Who were his people? Were they Pueblo or Ute?

Or the Cliffdwellers long before them?

Up here on Elk Rock sometimes my thoughts wander

Can’t help it. That’s just how I am.

There’s a big Pinon Pine that fell in December

Right on the trail to Elk Rock

I’ll move it some time. There’s really no rush

It’s not like I’m punching a clock

Now it’s not the Grand Canyon, or old Yellowstone

Ot the palisades down by the sea.

Just an old sandstone rock on the Lazy Bob Ranch

But somehow it seems to suit me

Yup I like it up here neath this big western sky

I like sittin and thinking and such

Them’s my thoughts for the day and I’d just like to say

Hope that Ididn’t bore you too much

See, Elk Rock is my spot. It’s special to me

In hard times it helps me get through

If you think really hard you just might remember

That you’ve got your own Elk Rock too.