It's been a running joke how many yosemite trail guidebooks I have trashed over time(in frustration) The one I keep going back to is the oldest, dog-eared volume of the lot: YOSEMITE TRAILS, by Lew & Ginny Clark. I flipped thru this volume once again and was surprised to find little nuggets of poetry tucked between the trail descriptions. Here is my favorite:
The twinkling stars of Sierra nights
Look down on the mountains wrapped in snow
A chorus of winds along the lofty heights
Mingles with the roar of streams below
Home of the rosy finch, polemonium, and cony
And alpine willow and cassiope dwell;
In meadows, chimneys, and landslides stony
The wildfolk of nature live in its spell.
Land of antiquity! Going back in time
For its glacial crags and cirques;
Engaging the elements of every clime
To carry on its tremendous works.
With summer's rain and winter's snow
The quarrying glaciers grind their flour;
And the rivulets and streams in canyons below
Carry the unending toil of creations's hour.
Lewis W. Clark
1904-1979