Mountains Don't Have to Think About Women
Mountains don't have to think about women.
They stand, or squat, or stretch themselves out
and if the sun walks on them and the moon,
what's the difference? If the forest uses
their flank or the big-horned sheep,
so be it, though the great ones seem
to reserve a certain loneliness of head
and shoulder. If they are aware of a stream carrying
pebble away, perhaps it is like me
on a summer's day standing at the edge of a meadow
trying not to think you are not there.
by Nils Peterson
from The Comedy of Desire
Blue Sofa Book Press, 1993
.