Wheel Of Fortune

Majoresque cadunt altis de montibus umbræ. **

John Renbourn / Robin Williamson: Wheel of Fortune

I had come
to the canyon
with expectations.
I wanted to see
snowy egrets flying
against the black schist
at dusk;
I saw blue-winged teal
against the green waters
at dawn.
I had wanted to hear
thunder rolling
in the thousand-foot depths;
I heard the guttural caw
of four ravens...
what any of us had come
to see or do fell away.
We found ourselves
at each turn
with what we had not imagined.

--Barry López
Crossing Open Ground

** And the greater shadows fall from the lofty mountains.
--Virgil