white rock
"White Rock" is what locals called
an incredible mountain, perched at the edge
of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,
overlooking a grand valley,
rock drop-offs on three sides,
why was it called that?
I bet that before the Park eliminated farms below it
wildfires periodically raged across it,
scouring the bushes, moss, and lichen away
so that it shouted the truth of the rock beneath,
as I sit here by my favorite creek in the world,
the rocks near the water look like ghosts,
the friendly green of moss scoured away by raging high water,
only the toughest moss and lichen endure,
particularly so on the side facing downstream,
away from where raging torrent periodically blasts them,
their whiteness so much less friendly than the green
nature wants to paint over the rock bed of the earth.
by Henry H. Walker
February 27, ‘25
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