Transcript
Speaker: Almost by Mark Harshman.
Speaker: The sky is condensed to wind, to air, to a rush roar on the ear as I climb out of the thick green of the Cherry River Valley. From the noise of the future kingdom come now I have travelled, up from Sandblack Church to Levacy to Nettie to here, by luck and by motor, by foot and by grace, I have come to hear, to hear and see, to see
Speaker: From kingdom come to forever now, from Black Mountain and Cranberry to Caesar Mountain, and Caesar Augustus and all his warriors never saw the likes of these, Redlic and Viney, Cheat and Kennison.
Speaker: Cloud green and shadowed purple the mountains drift Across the summer afternoon, Here and there fractured with bright ruined castles Of stone crags and caprocks, From sand shoals lapped by the salurian oceans, Becomes sandstone and quartzite.
Speaker: Chirrup and slow -sliding whistles, cough and scream, the birds are busy with gossip and discovery, with governance and lust. Blue -headed virios, black -throated green warblers, red starts, and the Hawks Olympic skating duet on the updrafts.
Speaker: The others, the bobcat, bear, weasel, and porcupine, you'll not likely see unless you lose yourself in the blueberry fields, the huckleberry barons. Still, they'll find you more often than not. The world will go on without me. But for these few moments, I am sitting on top of the world, a simple summer's day, away from the busy rush of roads, the scrolling of screens, almost off the map.
Speaker: almost heaven, almost where sky meets eternity, and eternity almost whispers its secrets in this teasing kiss of breeze. Almost. Almost. Almost.
