Canyon Stream

The canyon walls of granite stand above

a singing stream that tumbles down

its meandering, boulder-littered course

lined along with oak, aspen, maple and pine.

Those shear gray walls are scored by time

and veined with beige and pink, lichen-lined

with cracks and crannies barely holding

huge boulders poised to take flight and fall.

The lone sentinel, a tall ponderosa pine,

watches o'er still, leaf-filled pools

and stands beside the running, rowdy path

among the rocks that guide the waterway.

Up further in the canyon a miniature waterfall

crests huge boulders and takes flight

into the waiting pools, laughing as it leaves

its course to begin anew below

And even on the ridge high above the stream

the music wafts up, sometimes pianissimo tinkle,

to remind the hiking wanderer that the