<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Amatic SC", cursive; clear: both; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 3.5rem; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(98, 42, 20); -webkit-hyphens: auto; text-align: center; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">THE MOUNTAIN SPEAKS</h1><p style="margin: 0in 0in 18.65pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">by Edna Dean Proctor</span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 18.65pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">I am Tacoma, Monarch of the Coast!<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">Uncounted ages heaped my shining snows;<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">The sun by day, by night the starry host,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">Crown me with splendor; every breeze that blows<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">Wafts incense to my altars; never wanes<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">The glory my adoring children boast,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">For one with sun and sea Tacoma reigns.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 18.65pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Tacoma—the Great Snow Peak—mighty name<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">My dusky tribes revered when time was young!<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">Their god was I in avalanche and flame—<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">In grove and mead and songs my rivers sung,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">As blithe they ran to make the valleys fair—<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">Their Shrine of Peace where no avenger came<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">To vex Tacoma, lord of earth and air.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 18.65pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Ah! when at morn above the mists I tower<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">And see my cities gleam by slope and strand,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">What joy have I in this transcendent dower—<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">The strength and beauty of my sea-girt land<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">That holds the future royally in fee!<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">And lest some danger, undescried, should lower,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">From my far height I watch o’er wave and lea.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 18.65pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">And cloudless eves when calm in heaven I rest,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">All rose-bloom with a glow of paradise,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">And through my firs the balm-wind of the west,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">Blown over ocean islands, softly sighs,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">While placid lakes my radiant image frame—<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">And know my worshippers, in loving quest,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">Will mark my brow and fond lips breathe my name:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 18.65pt; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Enraptured from my valleys to my snows,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">I charm my glow to crimson—soothe to gray;<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">And when the encircling shadow deeper grows,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">Poise, a lone cloud, beside the starry way.<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">Then, while my realm is hushed from steep to shore,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">I yield my grandeur to divine repose,<br style="box-sizing: inherit;">And know Tacoma reigns forevermore!</span></p></div>————————————————-<br><br><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">http://www.MoscowCares.net</span></div><div><br></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><br></div><div>“A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.”</div><div>- Roy E. Stolworthy</div><div></div></div></div></body></html>