“Capturing only the essence of majesty”

Poem of the Day, Friday, November 8, 2024

 “Capturing only the essence of majesty”

We stopped several times along the way
to capture the majesty of Jackson Hole,
the Tetons, Jenny’s Lake, and Yellowstone.

The essence of it was all that I was allowed
with a camera taking photos
of the reality of what was before us.
But the feelings, the welling up
of emotion, cannot be converted
to a mere photo, even with Photoshop
or even AI. It is the feeling
as you stand there, staring out
over Jenny Lake, the gallons
of pure glacial water
that seeps from the crags
and rocks above it, all spring,
into the summer until the snow melts,
if it ever does.

The huge Tetons rise up
like giant sentinels,
guarding Jackson Hole.
The stories they could tell
of trappers, rendezvouses,
elk, deer, mountain goats, and sheep,
of mountains of stone,
the quietness and bitterness
of winter engulfing them
for months on end
until the spring sun rays 

loving touch their tip tops,

and outcroppings,
the gurgling of water slooshes down,
down into the lake,
and avalanches bolt and crash
the quiet stillness—
and so much more.

Pure majesty, undefiled,
and I can only capture
the essence of majesty,
which will gently remind me
as I look at the photos and feel
it through my bones,
see it my mind’s eye
time after time, again and again.