Cradle Mountain
By Nick Flittner
Published 1 January 2021
Above the Dove
looms the Cradle
where someone died last year
a fatal attraction
to beauty and height
but oh so cold.
Wilderness is an overworked word
suggesting emptiness
lack of humans
wild-ness.
How to square this with
the teeming hordes
in the car park
or the need to regulate walkers
north to south
in the summer months.
Yet Cradle holds the soul
inspires the heart
tests the body
takes the breath away
on winter days
with crisp snowy shows
of magnificence.
Kate and Gustav Weindorfer
had an inkling
and set up base camp here
setting in motion
devoted reverence from some
and job opportunities for others.
Cradle Mountain
a busy wilderness
acting as mother hen
to all the little peaks around
known around the world
yet a mystery
to many living near.