Ineffable

The sun rises, revealing a timeline of the earth.

In the morning it’s gray, white, yellow, orange;

first cool, then warm, then unbearable.



I walk to the edge and stop abruptly to meet

a sudden drop into oblivion, and across the way

walls climb to meet a horizon that stretches for miles.

I can breathe, move again as the afternoon

turns to evening and the chill of night greets me,

and it’s red, ochre, vermillion, then purple. 


The moon rises, lighting the expanse below,

and at the very bottom I see a river that moves

through this obscure reverse mountain.

I could stay lost in its immensity searching for

its beginning and its end, but instead I retreat from the edge

and leave it as it is, mysterious, fierce, humbling, grand.