Mount Rainier's Glacier Gardens

Glacier Gardens
One upon a mountainside glade
The Universe lost her mind
With flowers
Rosy, crimson, purple, lavender
White upon white upon white
Yellows lemon hued to palest of sunlight
Rolling out from forest wall to horizon swell
They rubbed elbows and jockeyed about
For their own small space in the sun
Until a carpet was made
Fit for a Queen
And for me.

Once upon a spectral brae
The Earth groaned and moaned
Steadily shattering stone and silence
So ungodly bright as to sting the eyes
Blinding with beautiful whiteblue brilliance
Stumbling over shards of these former mountains
To a single boulder throne
Like a solitary snaggled tooth
Sticking up from the surrounding snow
Fit for a Queen
Such as me.

All photos from one magical day in the Sunrise Area of Mount Rainier National Park back in August 2016, primarily Berkely Park (where I saw the most flowers I've ever seen in one place) and Emons Glacier (where the ice was moaning and creaking and Matt nearly went blind from the sun-on-snow-and-ice).