THE
MOUNTAIN ©
Charles E. O’Connor
The mountain’s going to
fall on us, he sat up with a start,
The mountain will explode
and fall, he felt it in his heart.
The mountain’s going to
fall on us, he trembled in despair,
As his Mother tried to
calm his fears, she slowly stroked his hair.
“The mountain won’t come
tumbling down” she whispered in his ears,
“That old mountain will be
standing for a hundred thousand years.
The mountain’s made of
solid rock, it can’t hurt us tonight,
It’s just a common
nightmare that has caused your awful fright.”
The dream kept coming back
at night, this worried Mom and Dad,
The doctor told them it
will pass, such dreams are good and bad.
“Now Timmy,” said his
teacher, “that great mountain is our friend,
You know it won’t come
tumbling down, on this you can depend.”
His friends began to laugh
and tease, and call him “Crazy Tim,”
They said, “he’s weird,
says silly things, we just won’t play with him.”
His thoughts were his, he
played alone and often stayed apart,
The mountain’s coming down
someday, he knew it in his heart.
In college Tim began to
learn of pyroclastic flows,
His interests always of
the earth, and its active volcanoes.
And Geologic History soon
confirmed his childhood fears,
His stature on the subject
recognized among his peers.
His written thoughts
explaining that within the distant past
Local mountains had
erupted thus repeating his forecast.
All his friends when
hearing of this just said, “its Crazy Tim”.
And just like Chicken
Little, he cries, “the sky is falling in”.
Now Tim is on the mountain
with his instruments and charts,
He measures distant laser
beams and probes the mountain’s hearts.
He feels the rumbles far
below and watch the needles swing,
The mountain lives, like
time itself, a real a growing thing.
His desperation now
resigned unwilling to give up,
“It will erupt someday,”
he says, “this research is my cup.”
So late at night in full
moonlight somewhere above he sits,
With the rumbles growing
stronger……
THE MOUNTAIN MOVES A
LITTLE BIT.