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Back to the Mountains
By Cornelia Powell | October 19, 2009
I recently returned to these glorious western North Carolina mountains from an extended trip to Alabama to visit family — especially to meet my six-month-old great niece, Ina, named after my mother. Her father, my dear nephew Will, and his new beautiful family live in the old family home where I grew up. So a very special visit indeed!
As wonderful as the visit was, driving back into the October lit, high energy mountains that I now call home, was an expansive, deeply satisfying joy. As the highway twisted and turned into the mountain range nestled between the Great Smokies and the Blue Ridge, I was reminded of a poem I wrote several years ago on another bright October day. I was driving from Atlanta to Nashville for a costume society meeting and felt that heart-opening experience when I started the climb into the foothills of the Smokies, and then had a wonderful “encounter” along the way that inspired me to write down what I was feeling. I thought you’d enjoy reading the resulting poem.
NASHVILLE BOUND
Cornelia Powell
25 October 2002
Follow me to the moon, the hillbilly shamans whisper,
on my way to light a lover’s forgotten trail.
Ancient legends warned of the path’s narrow dangers,
yet the misty here ‘n now reveal
mighty remnants of the gateway to paradise.
I’ve been here before in these rolling hills of wonder,
at deep peace and pleasure,
with nothing to forgive and all to surrender.
Forever in their promise—amens are spoken, anthems heard—
the trees give back their apparel.
Familiar festooned sentries line the ridge top
disguised as giant oaks and evergreens
silhouetted from both sides of heaven.
In the valley, Appalachian hawks circle the wagons,
and lead us not into temptation.
Mist rises through sharp slices of the rain gray’d mountains
like smoke signals from gods of our father’s world.
Golden October lights herald the opening of the hallelujah trail.
Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Riding through glory on the back of a pick-up truck.
Topics: Inspiration, Relationship, Remembrances |