---
title: The mountain
genre: verse

project:
    title: Elegies for alternate selves
    css: elegies
    order: 19
    prev:
    - title: The moon is gone and in its place a mirror
      link: moonegone
    next:
    - title: Serengeti
      link: serengeti
...

The other side of this mountain \
is not the mountain.  This side \
is honey-golden, sticky-sweet, \
full of phone conversations with mother.  \
The other side is a bell, \
ringing in the church-steeple \
the day mother died.

The other side of the mountain \
[is not a mountain.  It is a dark][apollo] \
valley crossed by a river.  \
There is a ferry at the bottom.

This mountain is not a mountain.  \
I walked to the top, but it turned \
and was only a shelf halfway up.  \
I felt like an unused Bible \
sitting on a [dusty pew][].

A hawk soars over the mountain.  \
She is looking for home.

[apollo]: apollo11.html
[dusty pew]: and.html