Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout
by Gary Snyder
Down valley a smoke haze
Three days heat, after five days rain
Pitch glows on the fir-cones
Across rocks and meadows
Swarms of new flies.
I cannot remember things I once read
A few friends, but they are in cities.
Drinking cold snow-water from a tin cup
Looking down for miles
Through high still air.
from Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems, 50th Anniv. ed.
(Counterpoint Press, 2010)