*

Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout

Gary Snyder


Down valley a smoke haze 
Three days heat, after five days rain   
Pitch glows on the fir-cones 
Across rocks and meadows 
Swarms of new flies. 



I cannot remember things I once read   
A few friends, but they are in cities.   
Drinking cold snow-water from a tin cup   
Looking down for miles 
Through high still air.

*

.