Mt Emily Gulch . . .
Two hundred years ago...
..and for thousands of years before,
…...this area carried more colorful names.
Some of the old pines
..not only remember but still speak
…..where sandhill cranes used to gather.
"The people" once gathered
.. for spring rites of roots and cambium
….. giving thanks for local bounty.
General Howards' troops
..came by, chasing first peoples...
…… with others following to gather left stock.
More recently cowboys
..named this place with irreverence
…..and spoke glibly of going to Mt Emily.
Cows, timber harvesters,
..Eureka Bar miners and settlers,
……have left their marks on the land.
It is a quieter place now,
.. with elk and great gray owls,
…..cows and their tenders displace cranes.
The Old Pines still speak,
..in whispers whether wind or not,
….. of the short-lived ones and their impacts.
I visit, simply to listen
..to old tales and young, spoken slowly
…..by some far older than I.
