Ode To Methuselah

I haven't posted here in a while, but recently I visited the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains of California, and I got inspired. Methuselah is the name given to the oldest known living bristlecone pine, measured at over 4,700 years old (which makes it the oldest known living organism on earth). The Forest Service keeps its exact location secret for fear of vandalism, but I got plenty of opportunity to photograph others in the patriarch grove, many of which were also thousands of years old.

This is not my favorite photo from the day, but one which illustrates the poem well. If you'd like to see more, please visit my bristlecone gallery.

Thanks,
Hank


Ode To Methuselah

Fire ignites the eastern sky
This day is bursting forth anew
Crouched here on your lonely mountain
You quietly mark another

A hollow wind sweeps the soil
Your roots grasp at bare earth
Desperate nourishment from the dry and dusty
A lifetime well deserved

Your twisting branches curl and bend
Forging a path to the heavens
A gnarled opus of your arduous ages
Your story revealed to all

My time with you has gone too quickly
For you it was less than a moment
I hear you whispering on the wind
Murmurs of antiquity

Hank, I've missed your creativity and inspirational writing. The last two lines gave me chills! Fantastic image to go perfectly with your words.

Thanks Denise! I've been too busy photographing lately to do much writing. But visiting the bristlecones in the quiet solitude of an 11,500 ft mountain ridge was TOO inspiring not to write. I sat down, and 15 minutes later the poem had written itself.

I hope someday to see it for myself.

A gnarled opus of your arduous ages

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Oh. My. God. Can you write! That was fantastic, Hank. It's so wonderful to read something with words that make you "see" the image inside and out. Lovely and exquisite. Great flow throughout as well.

Thanks Julie - you are too kind. I'm glad the poem illustrated some of what I was thinking and feeling. I usually use rhyming in my poems, because it forces me to be more creative with my choice and placement of words. But this one didn't require it - it just seemed to flow.

Hank, I have been there and seen these monuments to perseverance. It is humbling to see that cross-section in the visitors center and realize how long these trees have been there. Your image and words do more than justice to these proud inhabitants of such an extreme environment. So glad they are protected.

Thanks much, Kerry! It is indeed such a special place - to look out to the west and see the 12,000 foot wall of the eastern Sierra, and look east to see the endless stretch of the Nevada desert all the way to the horizon. And these trees stand there for thousands of years enduring the elements. Yes, I am also very grateful that this place is protected!