Mount Rainier’s Still There (Poem and Photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell)

Mount Rainier’s Still There (Poem and Photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell)

Mount Rainier's Still There (Poem and Photos by Karen Molenaar Terrell)

Mount Rainier’s Still There

Enveloped in the natural beauty of autumn
on Mount Rainier. Two days of peace,
immersed in the sounds and smells
of The Mountain – waterfalls and birds
and glaciers and hemlock and heather.

And then we’re leaving The Mountain –
driving through traffic and diesel fumes
on the freeway – past metal warehouses
and box stores and billboards
advertising cars and drugs and hamburgers.

And there’s Rainier – rising above the concrete
and car dealerships and rusty storage units,
and I feel sad that humanity seems so heedless
of her beauty – so unappreciative – almost
disrespectful in the ugliness it’s built in front of her.

Two hours from The Mountain, I look back
and get one last glimpse – she’s still there –
still with me – majestic in the distance –
untouched by the fuss and folderol,
the ego and greed of human-kind.

And as I think about this it occurs to me
that this is true of everything that’s real, isn’t it?
All the ugly and fuss that ego builds in front
of our identities can’t destroy our real selves –
can’t destroy what we really are:

The manifestations and expressions of Love.

by Karen Molenaar Terrell

I work to amplify good wherever I find it. I love color, texture, beauty, great ideas, nature, metaphor, deliciousness, genuine spirituality, and exploring new territory. I encourage authenticity, nurture creativity, champion sustainability, promote peace, and hope to foster a new renaissance where we all are free to be our most fulfilled, multifaceted, and terrific selves. Read more here.

3 Comments

  1. Sue Krevitt 2 years ago

    Oh….So….true….and truly beautiful that Mountain (of Truth) is!

    My first grandson spent six years of his precious young adulthood serving in the US Army, not long ago, and for several of these years in an army fort near Mt. Rainier. He will love this Post, so I will forward it to him. I love to think he, too, can and does glimpse the symbolic truth of this beautiful mountain peak, above the clouds-of-confusion that seems to comprise much of today’s world. I like to think of how it is that, as numbers are FIXED FACTS, so are the absolute facts of pure truth…the truth that we actually are wonderful beings, created by divine intelligence, and…thus, permanent! This comforts me a great deal. Thanks, Polly, for helping me with this.

    Sue

  2. James T Horn 2 years ago

    Must have been stationed at Fort Lewis/McChord. Great place.
    I was in the Washington Army National Guard and went there
    several times. Also, remember North Fort Lewis and Tacoma
    and Olympia.

  3. James T Horn 2 years ago

    Puyallup and Enumclaw and Cle Elum also.

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