Beneath "The Ice Cream Cone"

Living near the North Cascades
brings not just joy but fears.
Mt. Baker rises above me.
An active volcano for years.
She dominates the skyline
in Washington from Bellingham
to British Columbia, above the alpine.
Just eighteen miles from where I am.
With her glaciers heavily sprawled,
she's one of the snowiest places in the world.

"The Ice Cream Cone"- she's called.

Our future uncertainty resides below
Resulting from her eruptive past.
History shows one pyroclastic flow,
occurring thousands of years ago,
coming from a lateral blast.
Last known destruction facts refer
back to the middle eighteen hundreds.
When tephra eruptions caused lava flows
and mud flows- which still remain
this volcano's largest hazard.

On clear cold winter days
Steam plumes rise from her craters.
Alarming all who live around here;
mindful ever for some warning,
we rely on US Geological Surveys
to monitor our mountain's activities.

Meanwhile how can we know for certain?

Who under "The Ice Cream Cone" really relaxes?

"Certainty? In this world nothing
Is certain but death and taxes".

Or is it?

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