Your City
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Seven Emerald Hills
Seven emerald hills rise steeply
From restless waters born of moving ice
Siblings of a greater peak
Lifting up their faces into rains of shrouded mists
Or bathed in welcomed sunshine
The First where stately mansion homes
Climbed to heights now holding healing hostels
Looking toward a Beacon,
Watching Rainier’s changing face,
Holding hands, across a valley cleft,
With the West where Alki shores
Welcomed the first footsteps of settlers
Looking across blue waters where ferries play at
Mistaken Magnolia blossoming with madrone
Not bowing to Queen Anne, counterbalanced,
Winking at Capitol, with shady streets
On a broad way above the lake
Looking north to find a learned Crown
Mourning Denny’s passing
Where offices now scrape the sky
Remembering a Yesler skid row, algorithms,
A pioneer square, a needle touching space
Slumbering in the shadows of a Sunset
Where seaplanes play with seagulls
In summer Seafairs and rain festivals January to December
In Juneau, it's thrilling -
The air's always filling
With seaplanes, propellers a'whirl.
They glide on the water
And land where they oughta,
As smooth as a necklace-grade pearl.
The cruise ships are looming
But business is booming
In stores selling t-shirts and gold.
The tourists are buying,
In their way complying -
More crowds equal more items sold.
The world's surely changing
And life's rearranging
In towns, even those quite remote,
For travel has let us
And ships and planes get us
To any location of note.
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