Four Crossings

By C.D.Courter
From the book "Shasta Cycle, a Journey by Bicycle"

                  Four Crossings


     Foaming River
                            quiet creek
     Noisy and white
                            reflecting shade
                            and light
     Churns across
      its stony bed.
     
               I cross them
                  in turn -
               and look from the bridges
               upstream
                         and down
               backward and forward
               Once rain
                    and now warmed
                        in the sun.
     
     Blue
     in the depths
        of the channel
                            Leaf-lined
                            from an age
                              of fall,
     Ambitious,
                            Reflective,
     Active,
                            Like Yesterday's
                               Dream . . .
             
          We entered the Pit
                 River Canyon
             on a broad curve
             that descended to the past,
             to stories of a white powerhouse
                             and silver pipes,
             to the power of Return -- 
             To coming back      from beyond 
                   the mountain.
          The river
                   tumbled
                in release   from constraint
          and foamed      over black
                     boulders
              in a lane through the trees
                      to a bridge
                    where we crossed
                    without danger.
          Then around
                  a  bend,
                    and we passed    through a ridge,
                    to a second bridge
                where Hat Creek     lay quiet
                     and offered     relief.

              Stripped to bare essentials,
              we paused in respite,
                   and basked on a sunny bank,
                              unrushed
                                         for once
                                   by time
                                               or goals --
                       And even slept awhile . . .

                          But, now    moving on
                                 at that friendly      pace,
                                      to leave    the last
                                              few miles
                                      behind,
                          we cross    from sun    to shade,
                               and begin    again    to climb.


                 From the gorge,
                                the road
                     rises to
                     a valley,
                     and soon
                      comes
                      to a meeting     of ways:
                     To the left lies Lassen,
                     and Mount Shasta on the right.
                 Ahead for an hour
                      to the sawmills of Burney,
                      an aroma of pine,
                 a bed
                                  for the night.



                                           C. D. Courter        




(c)2003 C. D. Courter
All rights reserved.
No commercial use allowed without written permission from the author.