DIANA OF APPALACHIA

Bear mother
who sleeps beneath the mountains.
Watch over your children
even as they wander.
And walk beside us
when we are called
to make the journey home.

Listen, at the turn of spring, for the mother below the mountains awakens after a long winter.

All bow before her, when she surveys her land.

A mother sharp in tooth and claw, beware the wrath of the mountains.

But the valleys are full of song and sweet things for those who walk in her path.