Ultima Thule
Above me even now the hills are bristling
with pine and cedar, dark branches shifting
in the rays of Sun or Moon; there, deep pools
receive their cave-cooled water, the Entrance
breathes its mingling airs, and, surely, somewhere,
Charlotte---stepping, perhaps, to the back porch
door at twilight. Absently. By habit.
I have felt the legend almost leave me.
Elbows, rucksack. No one has ever come
this far---a dusty, Hell-bent crawl, past pits
and keystones, to find myself deep in the ridge.
I was drawn to wonder, the margins of the map.
Breath and a heartbeat. A fading lamp.
I was coffled to the light.
---Davis McCombs
---found in Ultima Thule (2000)