As Christmas Day 2025 dawns upon a world wrapped in the quiet hush of winter’s embrace, this poem invites us to journey into the timeless legend of a solitary wanderer, whose unyielding spirit mirrors the enduring hope and wonder of the holiday season.

Amid the twinkling lights and gathered hearths that celebrate renewal and the miracle of light piercing the darkest night, we find echoes of ancient mountains and starry vigils, reminding us that even in the frost-kissed solitude of the Appalachians, there lies a profound connection to the cosmos and the earth’s primal rhythms.

The Tree that survives the vagaries of a Roan Mountain Winter (Photograph © 2025 Thomas Mabry @honeybadgerimages – All Rights Reserved)

Just as the birth of Christ brought forth a star-guided promise of peace and transcendence, so too does the tale evoked in Crystalline Throne of the Highland Soul.

This poem seeks to inspire the magic of resilience, the joy of discovery, and the sacred bond between humanity and the heavens, urging us to climb our own peaks of reflection and gratitude on this blessed day.

Enjoy the first-ever collaboration of poet Philene Alvarado and adventurer, photographer, and author Thomas Mabry.

Philene presented the original poetic concept, and Badger provided a touch of his intimate knowledge of hiking with the stars to an awaiting Southern Appalachian sunrise.

Crystalline Throne of the Highland Soul

In epochs veiled by time’s forgotten shroud,

Long ere Camelot’s towers pierced the sky,

There wandered a soul, adventure’s ardent flame,

Unbowed by crags that clawed the heavens high.

No jagged peak could quench his restless fire;

He scaled the spines of earth, unyielding, bold,

Till breath grew thin and limbs could climb no more,

Yet onward pressed, through winds that bit like cold.

Atop the mighty Roan, where mists entwine

Like ghosts of ancient whispers in the air,

He gripped his walking staff, a faithful kin,

And roamed the wilds, untamed and wondrous rare.

There, crowning that enchanted, fog-kissed throne,

A fountain wept from springs of primal birth,

Threading through rocks, a billion winters old,

Where secrets of the deep emarth stirred with mirth.

Then stirred the Pleistocene’s relentless chill,

Frost’s silent grip reshaping valleys deep,

With cycles of thaw and freeze bestowing earth,

Crafting a realm of wild, enchanting sweep.

The Appalachians, once Himalayan kin,

Worn by time’s frost and ancient winds to grace,

Now murmur secrets of their humbled reign.

Our highland wanderer, summit-bound and true,

Reached pinnacles where valleys called in vain;

He lingered there, defying downward pull,

Till years unveiled his form, forever chained.

Clad in hides of beasts and boots of fur,

Kneeling in vigil, gaze uplifted far,

An axe clutched tight in fingers turned to stone,

His spirit fused with winter’s piercing star.

Whispers spread like frost across the hills,

Through ages echoing in Appalachian lore:

“The Son of Winter and Stars,” they named him then,

A legend forged in ice and cosmic core.

He cherished winter’s crystalline embrace,

And mountains tall that bridged the mortal span,

To graze the stars in their resplendent gleam,

When cold unveils the night’s most radiant plan.

©️2025 Philene Alvarado in collaboration with Thomas Mabry

Many of the HoneyBadgerImages are on display at instagram.com/honeybadgerimages.

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