Rising up early dawn

breaking camp, packing up

driving VW Beetle up twisting road to Fontana

hiking across the dam to the trail head

drudging up the long, wet, steep, winding trail

breaking wilderness calm

seeping water down the slate side mountain

drinking bees in the hot sun light

stretching away the peaceful green valley far below

going to the trail fork

slipping down the steep, overgrown, wet path on our bottoms

descending to the tailwaters’ edge

settling in a damp, earthy spot exhausted

falling asleep before sundown

awakening to the Great Void

experiencing such all encompassing darkness

experiencing such all encompassing silence

experiencing such all encompassing harmonic flow

cosmic being in the universe; Tat Tvam Asi

here&now working poetry

June, 1974

(reader’s note: I wrote this poem in 1974 shortly after our hike on the Appalachian Trail near Fontana Village, North Carolina in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Shortly after this, Cathey Stone’s beloved Yellow VW Beetle sadly broke down never to be revived. She still misses that car )