Lifting the Veil

Exodus 24:12-18

To the east, news-crawler clouds scrape the mountains,
hiding the higher elevations. A kaleidoscope of rain,
wind, and fog turns and turns again
its swirl of gunmetal gray over the lowlands.

A friend of mine comes from the Great Plains
to the Kent Valley at the beginning of the forty days
of gloom. He wonders: is the air like this always
with these speed-of-a-slug cloud-rags, and the rains?

Today, on day forty-one, the veil is lifted
when cold north winds chase the gray
and set the Cascade Range in clear relief
against the blue, and he is blown away
when Mt. Rainier brandishes its swaggering pride
four thousand meters above the countryside.

Last Sunday After the Epiphany
February 19, 2023