At Beartooth

At Beartooth
by Tristan

I have always longed to dwell
In mountain heights and girth
The place I ought to have been born
Where heaven meets the earth

For generations long before
Their beauty testifies
To transcendental glory
Mortal sorrow long defies

When I am most satisfied
Blissful and at peace
This is when I long the most
Where beauties never cease

But on this temporal plane I live
Where glory long evades
Where death and tragedies prevail
And happiness abates

In the valley of the darkness
Death has seized my love
Forever stolen from the lowland
So I look above

For forty and six months she graced
Our home and settled hearts
Now six and forty moths I look
For joy to never part

So, still I long to find my home
Above the misty peak
Though shadows cloak the holy face
A glimpse is all I seek

A Winter Canyon

A Winter Canyon
by Jill

Still and steadfast, towering heights
Strength, beauty sublime
Once rising fast to meet the sky
Suspended now in time

Despite harsh hosts, tenacious pine
Finds unlikely home
Precarious its perch on high
Its roots entwined with stone

Cascade plummets motionless
Its journey seems to cease
Yet underneath it thunders on
Awaiting spring’s release

Dormancy and vibrant life
A paradox of earth
Beauty in expectancy
Awaits the full rebirth

Mountains and Limericks

In early January we spent two weeks in the Beartooth Mountains of Montana. I took two weeks of Sabbatical to go and teach at a small one-year-Christian college. It was a lot of work but also restful and joyful. We had no cell phone service and limited WiFi. We unplugged. We read a bunch and went for hikes as much as we could. Teaching was busy but good, and I really enjoyed the students. The girls did their school work while I was teaching. Slowing down and appreciating beauty was good for our souls.

One fun thing we did while we were traveling was to attempt to write poetry. Rather than just taking a bunch of pictures to commemorate our time there, we set a goal to write a poem or two about what we were experiencing. It forced us to thoughtfully reflect and to be silly. Here’s our collection of silly limericks from Montana:

Hotel Swimming Pool
by Tristan
Elijah my son is a smiley young lad
He giggles and grins at each sight of his dad
But when in the water
He whines like my daughters
And Squeezes my neck real bad

Mountain Wind
by Jill
We scampered forth to go walkin’
It’s always our best time for talkin’
The wind then did blow
Little girls to and fro
Sending them homeward a’squawkin’

The Sledding Hill Blues
by Tana
Look, there are the mountains ahead
I wish I could ride on my sled
There’s not enough snow
To make my sled go
I guess I’ll just go off to bed

Hiking Hassles
by Jovi
We went in the mountains a’hiking
Lucy didn’t really like walking
She started to whine
We saw lots of pines
Maybe next time we’ll try biking

The Homeschooling Blues
by Tana
We ran down the hill and played pool
It was amazingly cool
We went on vacation
To my adoration
I wish we didn’t have to do school