Last night I slept under the stars

As my eyes flutter to sleep
I fight the shutting of lids
Aching to see another blaze of light twinge across the night sky
All around me
I can feel the heavy silence
Pressing and releasing
Just my heartbeat in my ears
We trekked out after dark
Feet pounding the earth in unison
Backpacks slapping against sweaty skin
Laughing and panting and creaking
Working up past the rocky forest trail
Into slick pavement overlooking
A massive beaver meadow
Finally we turn
And began our true ascent
Up the spiny and jagged back of the earth
Working past flinging pine branches
Bobbing headlights
Leaving behind the echoes of traffic and horns
Soon we grow silent of conversation
Focusing on our breath and pace
Crunching past prickly huckleberry
And over rocks painted
With heaves and bunches of lichen
And then
All of a sudden
We arrive
A gloriously flat
Yet rounded
Terrain
Crumbles of rocks and
Anemic pines
We sit and watch the moon
Mirrored over that beautiful lake
Pupils as huge as saucers
Taking in the bits of light we can
Listening deeply to the Shrills and howls
Of coyote packs in the distance
Finally we pace about
Searching for a bed of lichen to rest our bones
Among the sharp boulders
Fluff out sleeping bags
And cuddle inside
The breeze ruffles my bedding
And I gasp in the middle of the night
As a squeaking rustling thing
Flies past my face
The size of a gargantuan cat,
At least
I wonder if it is a porcupine
Like my friends warned of
When I awaken to dazzling light
As the sun crests over the mountain top
And a mosaic of reds and yellows
As fall makes her appearance
I can’t imagine I’ve seen anything more beautiful
Than this place