Yosemite Chess

YOSEMITE CHESS

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As a child, I spent a good portion of my summers

At a place called the Devil’s Elbow

 

Located in Yosemite Valley, just below El Capitan

One of the largest pieces of granite in the world,

This spot featured an awesome beach 

On the Merced River

 

There was a decent-sized rock

Which you could swim out to

And people would bask in the sun there

 

As if that wasn’t enough, there was also a kick *ss rope swing

Until the rangers continually cut it down

 

El Capitan was an awesome sight

And it was a joy staring up at it.

The mountain climbers inching it’s way up it

Appeared so tiny by comparison

They were almost invisible

 

Yet my eyes were continually drawn, instead

To a mountain far across the valley

 

It’s peaks had been worn down by erosion

And there was a jumble of huge boulders at it’s base

 

At the time, I had thought 

That it was only my imagination

That this mountain resembled a warlike King

Slouching on his throne

 

On his head was a helmet 

Which looked like a German one from World War One

With one of those pointy things sticking up

 

The peak just next to it

Resembled an advisor whispering in the King’s ear

 

Surely I thought that it was just my imagination

That I saw these things

But it wasn’t

 

Even an amateur historian knows

That if you were to pick just two symbols

To represent the power which was yielded in Europe

Throughout the 1000 year long reign of the Middle Ages

You would choose a Castle and a Church

Wouldn’t you?

 

Well, incredibly enough,

Far off on the flanks of this mountain

Which so resembles an Evil King,

There is a Church and a Fortress, set in stone!!

 

From any angle, Sentinel Rock resembles a rook from a chess board;

 

I couldn’t see it from the Devil’s Elbow

Because it was obscured by the pine trees

Which blanket the Valley floor, 

But it was there

 

And to the other flank of the Evil King,

Are the Cathedral Spires

 

It wasn’t I who named these twin pinnacles

Which so resemble the steeples of a Gothic Church

 

Amazing how these three separate mountains

Carved by ice

Make such a statement

 

For a thousand years,

From the Dark Ages

All the way to the Renaissance,

Kings ruled from their Castles

With the support of the Catholic Church

 

Facing these monoliths

From the opposite side of the valley

Was of course El Capitan

 

The Bible only refers to Jesus Christ once

As “The Lion from the tribe of Judah”

This is what I believe the El Capitan monolith represents

 

A couple of miles further up the valley

There resides a different type of throne altogether

 

Back when I was a kid,

Our family would often stay at Curry Village

 

Often my brother and I would hike from there

Up to the base of Glacier Point

 

There’s no trail weaving it’s way up

Past the jumbled boulders

And perhaps we were lucky 

We never sprained our ankles

But once we were at the foot of Glacier Point

We were greeted with a most spectacular view

 

Even back then, as a child

I could sense that Half Dome and North Dome

Had a relationship with one another 

 

Sure, I’m talking about a couple of mountains

But they seemed alive!!

And what’s more,

There seemed to be some kind of energy flowing

Back and forth between them

 

I know now, or at least I believe,

That Half Dome represents Christ’s Throne

And North Dome is the protector of the Church

Which rests beneath it

 

This Church is made up of the Royal Arches monolith

With Washington Column acting as the Steeple

Needless to say, it points directly towards Half Dome

 

I realize this all sounds wild and unbelievable

And I can assure you that I was quite blown away

When I first realized all of this

 

The way it happened

Was that I first had a dream

In which I saw Half Dome rising above the Sierra

 

It stood out boldly from all the other mountains

Which seemed dull and unimpressive by comparison

 

I had a few other interesting dreams

Which inspired me to break out the photo albums

Soon enough I began to realize that these mountains

Were carved out, not only by ice

Which was only the sculpting tool which was used,

But by a higher power

 

This was how it was revealed to me

That Jesus Christ was indeed the Earth’s creator

(as well as everyone and everything on the Earth)

 

Shamefully I gotta admit

That I planned on using this info for my own purposes

I felt that I must be a prophet

And set out to explain the meaning of Yosemite to others

 

It had nothing to do with a love of God,

Someone I didn’t even know

Instead it all revolved around my ego