Marker On the Mountain

[good4somethingbum]

Marker On the MountainThe night was clear n stark, she hiked in the dark By the light of a white-washed moonThen she clawed n climbed, past the timberlineNear the summit of that silent tombWhen that coal mine collapsed, and her son was trappedThey put his photo in a cheap pine boxSo she wrote his name n date, on a piece of slateAnd set it ‘neath some shady rocksNow there’s a marker on the mountainFor life that can’t be replacedO and it speaks of fate and fortuneTeardrops on the wind and wasteForever comes too soon for manyIt’s a rare heart that gives heedSo there’s a marker on the mountainFor eternity to readNow come wintertime, even high noon won’t findCarrion crow on a hill that steepNorthern blizzards blow, rain n sleet n snowNo willows go there to weepBut she’d go alone, hold that slate and moanThen wipe the sadness and snow awayShe was bent in prayer, when hikers found her thereIn the sparking sun late one MayNow there’s a marker on the mountainFor life that can’t be replacedO and it speaks of fate and fortuneTeardrops on the wind and wasteForever comes too soon for manyIt’s a rare heart that gives heedSo there’s a marker on the mountainFor eternity to read©2007 Robert George