The Mountain and the Hare

Once you’re old enough, you begin
To question the landscape. How long

Will this particular pine last?
How long before your favorite

Patch of forest is burnt to ash?
Is that a new rockslide? What views

Will be carved away or caved in
Or simply slip before you do?

Most cliffs you sit on will outlast
You by eons, your species, too,

Millenniums at very least.
But some scenes will go before you,

And some you’ll be tempted to mourn
Like friends. You’re old enough. You know.