A Birthday Poem for Me and Gary Snyder

GARY SNYDER
"Gary Snyder" by larry&flo is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0.

In honor of my birthday today, and Gary Snyder’s yesterday, I present the following poem I wrote six years ago. The poem below is slightly revised from the version published in my book In Praise of Manhattan.

DAVID M. KATZ

“THE MYSTERIOUS FURTHER HIGHER PEAK”

From the dedication to Earth House Hold, by Gary Snyder

Your master Roshi called the mountain that.
The cover of another of your books,
The Back Country, is black and white, with a big
Burst of light through pines up toward the right.
Looking at that light, I know I’d climb
That peak with you forever, Gary Snyder,
Capable and balanced as you rise
As well as when you cross the great plateaus.
Yet you were 86 today, and I'll
Be 68 tomorrow. It could be said
That I’m the awkward side of you, scrambling
Up the mountainside behind your sure
Ascent, without your pitons, mallet, and
The proper climbing boots. We’ve never climbed
Through any mist or mystery together,
Though now we venture further toward the peak.

—May 8, 2016