Twin Mountain
By Charley Sandage
How long did it take to build Twin Mountain
How many millions of lifetimes ago
Did this land rise to meet the great frozen rivers
That melted and carved out this mountain we know
And how long will it take you to haul it away
At the rate of seventy truckloads a day
How far do you think this water has traveled
From ocean to sky to the veins of the earth
Fill it with fine sand and acid and gels
And biocides - tell me then, what is it worth
How much will you capture and use in this way
At four hundred thousand gallons a day
For this ridge where green things and creatures have lived
In such uncounted numbers, how much will you give
You can travel the world and find, so they say,
Just a handful of places blessed in this way
How much will it matter when all this is long gone
A hundred years later, will anyone care
Will somebody say, when they pass by this place
My Grandpa once told me “a mountain stood there”
When you stand on Twin Mountain you stand on the brink
Before you start digging, would you just stop and think
© 2010 Friends of the North Fork and White Rivers, Inc.