Living in the valley,
down where they still sell studio apartments.
It doesn’t take long,
twenty minutes or so,
to climb up to where million-dollar-plus-home owners
have bought a vista.
I get the view myself,
without the million-dollar-plus-home payment.
I wonder if I appreciate the view more
than most who live up here,
for having earned it with my legs and sweat
in not-too-often outings
so that I don’t lose the mystery
and the awe
of the landscape,
of the two lakes like bookends to the city,
squared in completely
by rising hills and peaks.
Mountain breezes evoke memories
of a boy’s wilderness dreams.
