This poem first appeared in the Winter 1975-76 version of Poetry Northwest.
it was here in mid-winter
they paused to ask each
other the way the trail
behind filling with snow
that broken tree avalanche
kill do you remember
late summer we saw
the break up twenty feet
now here at eye level deep
snow bring that day back
speak are we here
it was here they built a fire
warmed their hands and faces
until the embers sank
hissed deep in the tunnel
of smoke here they turned
to look back with the wind
find their tracks nearly gone
then set out uphill the people
crossing the mountains to find
bitterroot hidden one wealthy day
in a cave on the other side
and here where the wind
slowed just below the summit
they paused to tap out a
song with stiff knuckles
at the base of the last cliff
we are here hungry children
mountain forget we will remember
wind forget fill our trail
we will remember avalanche
be patient we will disappear
without your help
it is here
plastered with snow forget
their names but you know
the road is endless either way
your car in its brief life
will never fail the radio
sings what your money can buy
but driver
they paused teeth chattering
a brief prayer near where
you kneel in the snow
to put on your chains
—
Kim Stafford is Emeritus Professor at Lewis and Clark College in Oregon. He writes, teaches, and travels to raise the human spirit through poetry. In 1986, he founded the Northwest Writing Institute, and he has published a dozen books of poetry and prose, including The Muses Among Us: Eloquent Listening and Other Pleasures of the Writer’s Craft and 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do: How My Brother Disappeared. His most recent book is the poetry collection Singer Come from Afar (Red Hen Press). He has taught writing in dozens of schools and community centers, and in Scotland, Italy, Mexico, and Bhutan. In 2018 he was named Oregon’s 9th Poet Laureate for a two-year term.