A Prayer For Alpine Mountains Alpine Heights Poem by Terence George Craddock

a beautiful prayer of devotion
which reads like the psalms
a comparison with some
of the finest historical verse
ever written is not light praise

who would not want to write
with the melody of King David
with the wisdom of Solomon
to write with peace grace wisdom
to sow peace in receptive hearts

what kind heart could resist a beautiful prayer
words devotion which reads like blessed psalms
without warmth smile birth sunrise sunshine born

once upon a track high in the Kahurangi National Park
it was not a park then just locally known Wangapeka Track
I read psalms in alpine mountains below alpine heights

a sense of awe overwhelming joy beyond endurance
settles in mind soul coalesces into a damp understorey
dense red and silver beech forest entrance delight eyes

double crepe fern kiwakiwa ferns abundant carpet
mosses lichens always steals soul enchants foot
a pain intense in joy life vibrates in every cell fibre

mānuka kānuka bracken thriving on fire scars
old slips flood-prone riverbeds steal a poet's soul
days spent in sub tropical rainforest in foliage

flourishing pristine never axe scared
inflames wonder wilderness spiritual
return to society a normality bitter break