The Mountain, and Community

Mount LeConte and Us

for decades we have pulled together

a wonderfully engaging shifting group of folks

to center our selves upon one of the great mountains of the East,

to share Mt. LeConte and its Lodge,

its sunset, with fine chocolates, 

remembering and honoring my brother Clarence,

its sunrise, with hot cocoa, coffee, tea, and the respect of silence,

the mountain distinct, running east to west,

with rock promontories at each end

that serve as podiums from which the day closes,

and then opens again,

the spruce-fir forest along its top nearly old growth,

the Cherokee for generations hunted and savored its slopes,

and knew it keenly through the richness of their mythology,

part of it containing a bison bull,

and upon it a great story of a Cherokee hero on a mighty quest,

Walasiyi, the Cherokee called it,

the abode of a great green frog,

we welcome our group to the Cabin,

a homely house hard by a creek of and from the mountain,

a celebratory meal after the hike based on my mother’s vision:

chicken salad, hot angel biscuits, marinated carrots, 

summer transparency applesauce, ham, 

pound cake, Southern chocolate sheet cake, and more,

meals before the hike: lasagna, salad, and fruit,

breakfast casserole and sausage,

treats for trail lunches: sandwiches, bbq pork-filled buns,

Aunt Lavece’s rolls stuffed with baked Tennessee country ham, cinnamon rolls,

all the food and treats to support and complement

the wonder that is Mt LeConte, Walasiyi,

and the wonder that can be the people

discovering the mountain, themselves, and each other.

by Henry H. Walker

August 3, ‘19