Our Maine Street's Aroostook Issue 4 : Spring 2010 | Page 8

Little Allagash Falls
It’s the weekend before Easter and for the third year in a row
I’m at Little Allagash Falls watching the star studded show
On center stage is the big dipper framed in shadowy firs
I don’t think these actors ever have to rehearse
I have never been here, in the summer or fall
but the weekend before Easter, I seem to hear a call
So, I come out here and camp on the snow
to wake in my sleeping bag and enjoy the show
Conditions are perfect with a little snow on the crust
Traveling here, snowshoes are an absolute must
This time of year with a change of a few degrees
I would sink in the snow up over my knees
The temperature tonight is around zero or below
I’ve got a good sleeping bag, I’ve tried it out, I know
So with a sheet of poly under my foam pad
this is a better bed than a lot I have had
I chuckle as I think of the otter above the falls today
I sat there for over an hour and watched him play
He’d climb up on the ice of the pond and run and slide
right off the edge and into the icy water he would dive
Last year the falls were completely encased in ice
I could barely hear the water, the sound of the falls is nice
I’ll take home a few pictures but most folks still won’t believe
I love to sleep out here beneath the trees that have no leaves

from Living on the Edge
volume two in a collection of poetry
by Lloyd Archer

© 2009 Pam Crawford, Presque Isle