Mystic, Ovid and Glippo: The Great Gulf

Passage 12.

I.

 “Four point one miles”

 announces Mystic

with cryptic smiles.

 “Not a frantic

 hike up arctic

Mt. Washington

and Huntington. “

II.

Tuckerman trail

 fervid Ovid

 begins to scale.

 “My pace is solid,

 resolve stolid,

 cairns and lichen

 Alpine Garden.”

III.

 “The Disneyland

 of hiking” Glippo

 sighs. “Wonderland,

 Cog Rail, flow of

 tourists, auto

 road, gaiety,

 mortality.”

IV.

This summit’s frown,

 world’s worst weather,

 can knock us down

 like a feather.

 With no tether,

 huge, shifting rocks

 give our knees shocks.

V.

 Sound of water

 is underfoot.

 Walk and totter,

 as tenderfoot,

 and pussyfoot

 down the Great Gulf,

us to engulf.

VI.

 Light starts to fade

 Mystic, hatchet

 on belt, assayed

 a camp, ratchet

up hope, latchet

for us young fools

who untie rules.

VII.

 Ding the lean-to!

 A fire ring!

 Burn the lean-to!

 One last zing!

 Mystic’s last swing

 Glippo’s hot flames

 Ovid’s cold shames.

VIII.

 Mystic shivers

 and wakes us up.

 Glippo quivers.

 Ovid warms up.

 A noise mounts up.

A bear smells snacks.

Flames halt attacks.

IX.

 Bear-spirit smiles.

 Ovid’s caustic.

 Glippo reviles

Mystic. Cryptic

 Manitou’s diptych:

 Mt. Washington

 and Huntington.