Cradle Mountain

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.