What the Mountain Perhaps Knows

Kayla Santanilla

I wonder what the mountain knows,

After years of being one with the wind.

What stories were whispered

By the flutter of a butterfly’s wing?

Several lifetimes

Of secrets,

Brought in by the call of a crow.

I wonder what the mountain is hiding deep within its caves.

Does the mountain know the story of the sun?

Does it hear the truth of the moon?

I wonder if

The ever-present mountain feels

The change of the tide

Vibrating through the earth.

I wonder what the mountain knows,

What has been communicated through

The shining of a star.

I wonder if

The mountain knows

The wrongs of countries far away,

The wars and hate,

Smoke and fire

Shooting across the sky.

I wonder if the

The mountain hears

The night change into day.

But what I wonder most of all,

All the secrets the mountain knows,

I wonder if the the mountain really wants

To have the responsibility of this world.

Encumbering this mountain of graceful strength

Weighing it down,

Nobody to share the burden

Nobody as tolerant as the majestic cliffs.

Yet the mountain still might be

tired of holding on

To the flood of knowledge

Pushing against

It’s weakening boundaries.