This is written in that perfectly poetic fashion that leaves me needing to reread it, to grasp it, and then never really being sure I have. Or maybe I'm just dumb.

In the middle of record high temps for this summer your poem provided a chill down and a view that was breathtaking. The last stanza is melodious. smh :)

I can both see and feel this one, Jadi... and I can't find words to describe either. Beautiful... and thank you.

oh oh oh! so true!
When I lived in Selah (right outside Yakima) my room-wide window from the loft looked right upon Mt. Rainier. You say it best...how can they ever possibly be at odds???
You can always be counted on to bend our minds, Jadi. Always. Thank God for your ability to fold the bend into poetry.

I've climbed Little Tahoma and Pinnacle Peak. There is a awesome life to Rainier. It is power, zen, love, magic...and so much more! I love this poem!

this is perfect..and I hate heights.

This is more than a poem..this is a painting.

majestic imagery, great lines, solid, strong sound (can something be loud and quiet at the same time?) breathtaking. POTD, for sure. PK

Reminds me of the photos taken by the space shuttle. I agree, a truly spiritual experience...and reminder of how we must protect this planet from certain of ourselves.

Ah, jadi, what a jewel! As I read your poem, I was actually remembering a time when my wife weres on Mt. Rainier amidst the clouds and snow and were in awe of its beauty. Then I read your author's note and smiled and again felt that connection with you that I have so enjoyed over the years. Thanks, dear friend, for this lovely piece and for your decision to take time to stop, be quiet, and soak in the now. The fruits of your contemplation are wondrous indeed.

Science and religion can't help it, they both want the copyright on human life. Too bad it belongs to both of them. Great poem, I could see your point of view.

As intended I think this poem leaves one with feeling the mystery of the universe, or at least our part of it. With all of our scientific knowledge there is so much unknown around us. Makes dreamers of some of us. Great write!

the earth is so full of natural grace and I can imagine how beautiful it must look way up there with your head in the stratos and what a powerful idea to have gone there with your mighty pen and pad to capture not merely the moment but eternity.

You make me feel like I am sitting right there. Very nice.

As always I am drawn to new worlds for me, to heights I have not known. And yet-- I realize that my own vision of what the poet does is to dance on the "rim of the world" on the very edge of discovery, and this is what you do in this poem, which morrors what you do in life. Immediately this breathtaking sight is before me, the honed wording, sculpted lines, formed and shaped like the pure crests before us. Mt. Ranier, I have never seen this except here reflected in your eyes. The poem is in three parts, like the three crests atop this mountain. "Columbia Crest" is the highest. The beautiful "cloak"ing we see at the a perfect whiteness of "snowfields" and then I realize we are not just looking, we are there. As if instantaeously brought foot to ice, the "Crampons" (I had to look this up--delighted to see the picture of a spiked shoe built for climbing these snowy heights)... and so we are here... where they "cleave" (which is more than cling)...it is to go through, into this purity, this icy whiteness to become one with it. Otherwise... we would slip. Then "Homo Luminous" ...I am amazed to find this "The elder shamans say that Homo Sapiens are becoming extinct, and that we are becoming Homo Luminous; and that we are the ones we have been waiting for " I love this concept, and can see that it is a prophesy, and a vision of a quickly transforming human being into a much more luminous, intelligent being, oh... if only. "Horizon's pearl" I imagine as this peak itself, also the spiritual quest (often associated with the pearl) and even locations for spiritual study with such a name --in any case... witness, "silent partners to a stranded moon". This is a beautiful quieting, stunning moment. And all is gleaming and such heightened silence can only open, and the isolation of the moon as a symbol, a vision before us is almost beyond words. We can only witness. Then in the final stanza we look down and it is as if we are no longer here... but "planet blue" (our watery earth) stunning also in its beauty is "suddenly so very far removed". The suddeness is telling, as it is this kind of experience where clarity is a sudden glow a rush of snowfall, and we are brought into focus. And here we are. Absolutley beautifully crafted to mirror this experience, I feel very honored to be a part of it. Ah --and the title. It has a lightness (as a "pocket full of dreams" might be. In a song by that name (and by natural intuition) we know that one needs no more than that... to have a deep life, and it is such that we can carry (lightly) and be given in such a place and in such a time... we are truly rich.