Original Mountain Poems
These are original PineTreePoet mountain poems. They were all written away from the physical and emotional constraints of plastic, steel, and concrete. Share this list of mountain poems with your adventurous, outdoorsy, sunshine-loving, all-day-hiking friends & family.
The mountains are where I feel alive and connected. To myself, others, and the natural world. And it’s in the mountains that I believe the best poetry is born.
Hey! I wrote these 56 poems myself (aside from a few sprinkled in from one of my favorite poets, Emily Dickinson), and so I’d love to hear which is your favorite. Leave a comment at the bottom, will you?
1.
Commerce:
I trade my time
and soles
for mountain views.
2.
They dwell in the city
and talk about
mountain people
and beach people
like they’ve unlocked
some great secret to tranquility.
But it’s no secret that
plastic and steel and concrete
can easily, handily, unceasingly
by nature’s eternal beauty,
be beat.
3.
If you’re looking for love
go to the mountains.
Even if you meet no one there
you’ll come back
deeply
naturally
mystically
in love.
4.
If a poor man sent his lenders
to the forest to collect their debts
they’d soon be found
quite naturally content
to shuffle under pines
scurry up steep climbs
and to bask in such wild sunshine
that very soon they’d forget
the owed large money lent.
A few of these mountain poems were written in Grayson Highlands State Park.
5.
The stream cut the trail
tumbling down the mountain
and we splashed like kids
tumbling into each other
and into ourselves
and deeper into the wild.
6.
It is unfair
to man’s greatest achievements
to behold a mountain sunrise.
7.
My fears about mortality
I showed the grandeur of the Rockies
the mysteries of Sedona
and an Appalachia sunrise
and they laid down their arms.
The Mountain sat upon the Plain
In his tremendous Chair–
His observation omnifold,
His inquest, everywhere–
The Seasons played around his knees
Like Children round a sire–
Grandfather of the Days is He
Of Dawn, the Ancestor–
8.
Follow your own path in life
just make sure
to see a few desert canyons
climb a few cold mountains
and stop and smell the pine trees
every chance you get.
9.
You don’t seem the mountain type
so I won’t be seeing you again
with your plastic preoccupations
though I’m sure you’d be an okay friend.
10.
In the mountains
your nighttime company
are owls and cicadas
or stars
and I really don’t think
you can go wrong.
11.
The rugged trail said to me
follow me
deeper and deeper
into your own soul.
12.
Spend more time
in the mountains
so you spend less time
thinking about
your bank account.
13.
And then again
maybe we’ve all sold out
our reverence for nature
for some normalcy
amongst our kind.
14.
Stillness is the playground
of Earth’s wildest things.
15.
Bad news doesn’t travel well
in the mountains.
Nobody’s paying attention
what with all that natural connection.
16.
A sweaty hat
dunked in a mountain river
solves quite a few problems.
17.
Cheers
to a tall mountain
and a big blue lake
and a trail-crossing
scare-me-to-death
sun-seeking snake.
18.
People who always
talk about gratitude
are usually mountain people
and though their incessance
can be droning
I surely get it.
19.
Soup in December
cooling but still hot
thoughts of melting mountains
we’ve entertained not.
20.
Painters have it easy
I’ll have to remember this view
with my cumbersome
fragile camera
I’ll have to make do.
21.
Flowers in the mountains
have a particular way
of making me smile
at the ground.
22.
I’ve good reason to suspect
the mountains are happiest
when we’re under their pines,
laughing and splashing
staring and crashing [sleeping]
beneath their needly green blinds.
23.
What do you make
of peoples’ anxieties?
I asked the mountain.
I’ve no knowledge of it,
she said.
24.
I think if the world
ever did end
I’d like to watch it happen
from a mountaintop
with a bag of granola.
25.
Hitch hiking up the mountain
the wind carrying me in her hand
birdsong all around
wilderness’ perfect band
And I don’t know where’d I go
if these mountains ever fell
but I’d sure go slow
to a place much less swell
26.
I wear lots of hats in the mountains
I’ve got a lot to do
I’m watching and smelling and tasting
sensations many more than a few
The mountains also wear lots of hats
some are snow, others stone, and many pine
me and the mountains with our many hats
we get along just fine
27.
I can hardly blame
the weekend throngs
for loving the mountains
as much as I.
28.
I never saw
a mountain
I didn’t like.
29.
Wear hiking boots
to my funeral
and then take the smiles
my life left upon you
into the mountains
to live forever.
30.
Mountains are the gentlest giants
guarding us by grandeur
from our material superstitions.
31.
My neighbor asked
where I spent my weekends
and I told her among the pines
I said I couldn’t bear
long grocery store lines.
32.
“Read romance!”
they shout at my moping frown
thinking it’ll cheer me up
carrying a love story around town
but it’s not love
that’s got me wrecked, you know
it’s the smell of gas
and city traffic flow
and all these talking people
but they don’t see each other
only the mountains can fix my sadness
this sickness of city smother
33.
One wretched
cold
crying
wish-I-stayed-home
evening in the mountains
is better than any alternative.
34.
A new year
and I’m still here
surrounded by hims and hers
people suffocated with affection
for fancy false furs.
I’d rather see the creatures alive
climbing and running and calling
I’d rather stumble up a mountain
and spend a night beneath stars, falling.
35.
But instead of cities
imagine mountains
and instead of buildings
imagine trees
and instead of people
imagine stars
36.
Steal a kiss
from the mountain’s generous wind
and she’ll turn you into a prince
of no great desire.
37.
I looked in the mirror
and I saw
trees and mountains
all around me.
38.
The trees recruited me
and I recruited my friends
and they brought theirs
and now we’re all here
to listen to nature’s big pitch
and it sure isn’t some racket
we’re very eager to ditch.
39.
It should be written
on every billboard
along every highway:
“Visit the mountains
because soon
you’ll be dead.”
40.
Greener than money
taller than pride
prettier than music
…mountains
41.
So long as I’m a stranger
among mountains and pines
I won’t be able to stay away
(I must get to know them, you see)
and when I feel at home
amidst their peace and charm
I’ll never see the day.
42.
I had a strong opinion
about something
I wanted to say
to many people
but it left me
when my boots touched
this mountain dirt
when a grey cloud sprinkled
upon my dirty shirt.
43.
There is somewhere in between
spending every day in the mountains
and spending no days in the mountains
I want to inhabit,
with a good preference
to the former.
44.
When I grow up
I want to live
in the mountains.
But it fills your cup
your whole life to give
to green money fountains
I’ll keep my cheer
way up here
leave your plastic debts
and come visit, dear.
45.
I drove into the mountains
and thought about
how I didn’t need much.
Maybe just a good pair of boots
and a backpack
for my socks and such.
The Mountains–grow unnoticed–
Their Purple figures rise
Without attempt–Exhaustion–
Assistance–or Applause–
In Their Eternal Faces
The Sun–with just delight
Looks long–and last–and golden–
For fellowship–at night–
46.
People who spend more time
in the mountains
smile much
much more
and seldom
have a mortal reason why.
47.
People have mishaps and personalities
and so I prefer mountains and pines.
They only stare
and for my inefficiencies
they have no care.
48.
There is nothing
rehearsed, tiresome, or desirous
about the mountains,
and that is why I love them.
49.
The cold air
held my smile’s breath
and perhaps the warmth of my mood
high in the mountains
spread across their lonely peaks.
50.
You should know
I’m easily charmed
by mountains and moss
and early evening owl hoots
so if I ever disappear
and you don’t find me here
it’s possible I’ve laced my boots
and I’m enchanted and tripping
over big knobby roots.
51.
WWPTD:
What would pine trees do?
They’d go hang out in the mountains.
52.
Nobody knows why we’re here
but I think I know
why mountains are here.
53.
We should all try
to imitate mountains.
A tall task, I’m sure.
54.
I don’t wear sunglasses
in the mountains
because I’m afraid to filter out
some new shade of sky
or new bend of green in a leaf
or a glimpse of the spirit
that fills my lungs
with such wild laughter.
55.
We need to go to the mountains
to practice our unnature:
preserve contemplate admire
something other than ourselves
56.
Mountains keep us safe
from pomp and leisure
for who could see a rugged peak
and humbly
not wish to seize her?
57.
There is no straight path
up a mountain
which is the whole point
of climbing
58.
You don’t need a secret map
to find treasure
in the mountains
59.
I ducked into a pine tree nook
I didn’t expect to be so smitten
they say these mountains are the best
and they sure weren’t kiddin’
The very sign in Grayson Highlands State Park that inspired the next poem.
60.
A sign covered in ice
and the trail split in two
I stood stumped
not sure what to do
but up in the highlands
either path
is the right way to go
hurry along now
there’s plenty to see
and we’re expecting snow
61.
The mountains need a doorbell
so just in case
they’re tired of my gossip
about Stress, Money, and Death
they can leave me at their doorstep
I’d understand
Did you have a favorite of these poems about mountains? Did you like those I included by Emily Dickinson?
My favorites are poems #2 and #4. They both embrace a natural, wild medicine which calls each of us away from the plastic and steel and concrete we’ve grown so accustomed to.
Thanks for reading!
You might also like…
⛰️ Hiking Poems
🐬 Poems About the Ocean
🐻 Environmental Poems
🌇 Sunset Poems
🎃 Original Autumn Poems
❄️ Winter Poems
3,5 especially 8, 10 & especially 22 (multi-day races) and 29 hiking 🥾 boots and my funeral
Thanks for checking these out, Taylor. 22 & 29 are personal favorites of mine as well.