the exposed bones of the mountains

burst through the clinging skin

of trees and duff and loess

unpretentious beneath the sky

 

they remember, those rocks

the echoing voice of the river

drowned for man’s convenience

but their memory, at least, will not die

 

 how it started:

     Diablo Lake
     the rocks remember
     the drowned echoing voice of the river
     that memory, at least, is eternal