athabasca glacier
		-----------------------------------------------------------

		was determined to reach the glacier
		why not looked in-reach eye-level

		chose the trail in my haste yet there was a road
		hey wouldn't you

		the trailhead said trail to the glacier elevation
		change 30 meters length 1 kilometer estimated time 25
		minutes allow 35 for return

		did not say go back to the car go put on some pants go
		back to the car go get the parka go back to your tent
		at lake louise go back and come back in the morning

		the little stream which you have to cross
		is the mighty athabasca outflowing

		to the arctic ocean unlike the saskatchewan
		to the atlantic unlike the columbia
		to the pacific

		a three-watershed point
		two on all of earth

		the stream has stepped out of banks
		a huge field of stones
		good of you to wear those reinforced teva sandals
		how much cold can your white feet take

		scattered fuzzy purple flowers sat in gray stones
		to be crushed and glacier-rolled in toothache winters
		good of you to wear those reinforced teva sandals
		no soaking heavy hiking boots

		water rolled brown in its new beds down frontal moraine
		wooden trail bridge lay glazed-furious 2 feet under
		good of you to wear those reinforced teva sandals
		the bridge is treacherous head up and over

		the sky was light the sun was blaze
		the glacier -- burned
		a peculiar once in a lifetime
		meld of hue
		deadman's hand: white and

		blue she shone.


			Marek Lugowski
			22 September 1997
			Chicago, Illinois

			[5th rewrite]