Albion Basin

Earth laughs in flowers

--Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Hamatreya”

There are 120 varieties of wildflowers in the Albion Basin.

Klarissa and Karlton don't care.

They don't want to ride up with Amy and me

on Saturday evening.

Additionally, it’s hot and sultry in the valley;

cool and crisp at 10,000 feet.

There’s nothing a few hours in this Zen-like calm can’t cure,

away from the fast pace of crowds and civilization.

Breathing in the floral scent,

a quieting sensation overwhelms us.

This is a religious experience—

a theology not found anywhere else.

Maybe they would have come

If they had known we would encounter moose

Grazing nonchalantly and companionably

In the meadow.

On the ride home,

Our day’s pay was a sunset.

Foolish children.

Karlton playing with the I-Pod

Why didn’t you come?