…Pahn
has been wondering
if
when walking
in
the snow at night
one
can see the way
by the reflected light
as
he puts this question into words
he
glides
into
a
winter
thicket
of conifers
following
a
trail
in the dark
the snow
glowing
faintly
beneath him
The
trail leads to a road
He
plods
past a parking lot
and small
building
all
covered by an even fresh-fallen layer all
glowing
a
dim blue-grey
slowly
lightening
He
leaves the road by an empty lodge
crossing
into a rocky landscape where
he
hears the voices of a couple just awakening
His
mind wanders onto a map where
he
sees he is
in a high hanging
valley
and
he hears the name of a river and meadows
In
his next view
he
is looking down
on
the valley deeply gouged
and
scraped down to the grey granite by ice
and
to the north-east a slope rises to fluted
cliffs
thousands of feet high
On
the ground he crosses
a
small rise in the trail to where he has
a
closer view up the valley that holds
a long
wide
pool in a hollow…
…He
has gone to the concession and returned with Aiks
He
leaves Aiks
following
or someone like her
who wanders
over the ascending
granite
shelves
toward the cliff
and near the highest
shelf
he
sees that the slope levels out
and
he wonders if there is
a
lake
at
the foot of the chute
though
he hasn’t seen it on the map
Then
Aiks comes to lead him back
encouraging him to think
that there is a lake
and
turning away
from Pholoa’s path
he looks back out across the valley
and sees
far
below and away
the
shimmer of water
but turning back again
toward
the cliff
he
has come upon a large and cold
grey-green-blue
lake
that brims
to the edge of the shelf
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