On the Way Home
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there was a momentwe were coming downfrom the turbulent watersof the Maligne it had beenraining for what seemedhours on end there wasa thick mist hanging in the air,a billowing high abovethe larches and the pinesso that the mountain peaksseemed all but hiddenwhen suddenly without warningthe face of one mountainfar off to our left beganto shine it was as ifsome mystery had just revealedthe merest glimpse of what it wasI thought of Peter barteringwith Jesus on the Mountof Transfiguration to stay, stay,or Moses alone there on the Mountainas the wind whisperedin all but words here I amimmerse yourself in me now,now, for even this must passand you will descend, returningto a world which will or will notcare but know too that this momentmay well return and it will be as ifwe came together then for good.
September 18, 2017: Canadian Rockies [End Page 104]
Paul Mariani, Emeritus Professor of English at Boston College, has published six biographies of poets (W. C. Williams, Berryman, Lowell, Hart Crane, Hopkins, and Wallace Stevens), along with seven volumes of poetry, most recently Epitaphs for the Journey, and Thirty Days: on Retreat with the Exercises of St. Ignatius. His awards include a Guggenheim, an NEA, NEH, and the John Ciardi Award for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry. His life of Hart Crane, The Broken Tower, was made into a feature-length film, directed by and starring James Franco, was released in 2012. He served as Poetry Editor of America Magazine from 2000—2006. His poetry has appeared there, as well as in such magazines as Poetry, Image, Presence, First Things, and The Hudson Review, and in numerous anthologies. paul.mariani@bc.edu
