Oh ragged peak with face of stone, whose vision reaches past far horizons
Your shaded face conceals the pain you’ve seen.
Mountain men with wills of iron who struggled for survival here
Searched desperately for pelts among your crystal lakes and streams.
And long before them, dwellers of the cliffs lived in the heights
Somehow prospering among these temples made of stone.
But strength and heart were not enough and now they’ve vanished too.
Like dust their memory blows across the canyon floor alone.
Through your passes, great trains of heavy laden wagons climbed
Fearfully racing skies which cooled and darkened day by day.
The bones of man and beast lay scattered on your winding paths.
A million tears and broken dreams will always mark the way.
Your gaze was cast upon the beasts whose numbers were uncountable.
And with disbelief you saw their countless numbers fade.
Replaced in time with alien beasts of steel and fire and steam
Their tracks carved in your slopes now show the sacrifice you made.
The miners searched with eyes dimmed by mindless lust for wealth.
The tunnels broke their backs and crushed their souls.
With arbitrary whim, your treasures you gave sparingly to but a few.
Most just spilled their blood and youth in search of gold.
Fortunes made and lost again and all the efforts meaningless to you.
You watched the struggles of both strong and weak.
Through the eons you have watched, changing with the light upon your face
A beacon to those few who envy eagles soaring through your peaks
You stand today as you have stood and watch your kingdom still
In summer’s heat or winter’s rage here you watch and rest
And if you think at all, no doubt you think with only passing interest
Of these fools who think somehow they’ve tamed the West
Mountain
