Alta Vista from California Morning by Rachel Anne Goodman

Alta Vista Rachel Anne Goodman

The trail to Alta Vista is a mighty sweaty battle
In summer when the horseflies buzz around your saddle
Sagebrush and lupine cast their scent into the breeze
That is where my mother spent her fifties

Alta Vista was a homestead cabin build of redwood logs
High above the Big Sur coastline and the ocean fog
A manual typewriter on a table by a tree
Was all my mother needed to be free

She wrote about her meetings with the coyotes and raccoon
Staring down a wildcat on a lonely afternoon
Chopping wood for cooking and to keep away the cold
To keep away the loneliness of growing old

The call of home and family finally drove her down the trail
Back to modern living and all of its travails
But always she’d remember the refuge of that place
A peace of mind that time could not erase

All that’s left of Alta Vista and my mother are some ashes
And some photos of the coastline where the blue Pacific crashes.
If spirits have a resting place, that is where she lies
Where the condor and the eagle take the skies.

In my dreams I can still see her beneath her favorite oak tree
Savoring the sunset as evening’s coming on
Crickets and coyotes join into the chorus
Blending with the quiet sound of Alta Vista’s song

Crickets and coyotes join into the chorus
Blending with the quiet sound of Alta Vista’s song

• Americana
• Folk
• acoustic
• country folk
• old-time country
• Santa Cruz