This is the view from the top of Bald Peak, just over the Franconia line in Easton, New Hampshire. To get to Bald Peak, you walk out the front door of the Kinsman Lodge, turn left, walk past the tennis camp, prevent your 8-eight-old nephew from dropping his borrowed ski pole down a storm drain, turn left again, find the trail head, and walk uphill for two miles.

At the top of the mountain, you ply your 8-year-old nephew with gorp, prevent him from galloping over the cliff edge, and put your hat back on because there's a brisk wind rippling across the notch and the clouds are moving fast.

At Delphi I prayed
to Apollo
that he maintain in me
the flame of the poem

 --from Denise Levertov, "The Prayer"