June 29 2022

The Mountain’s Moods!

The beautiful mountain overlooking Algorfa can be seen for miles around. It’s known by several different names. Some call it ‘Elephant Mountain,’ to others it’s known as ‘Mount Escotera,’ and it’s also known simply as ‘Callosa,’ since that’s where the mountain is located, although it looks so much nearer. What do I call it? Like pretty much everyone for miles around who is fortunate enough to see it every day, I call it ‘My Mountain!’

It’s no surprise that something so beautiful should inspire writers, and I’ve written a few articles about the mountain myself. However, a good friend of mine, Carolynn Barclay, who live in Catral and walks her dogs in the shade of the mountain, has gone one better and written a poem about it.

Algorfa mountain

Carolynn publishes her daily poems on the Facebook page My Life of Rhyme. She’s always been a poet, but during the Covid Lockdown in Spain in 2020, she pledged to writing and publishing a poem every day, processing her own thoughts and also writing comic poems to cheer everyone up. She liked it so much she just kept going, and now has over 1,000 poems under her belt, which she publishes daily on My Life of Rhyme. What does she write about? Pretty much anything and everything. She can be moved to verse by a meme or a throwaway comment, and the results are amusing, moving and thought-provoking, often all three in the same poem!

This poem – called simply ‘Callosa’ – is inspired by the changing moods of the mountain. You’ve probably noticed that at different times of the day, it can look beautiful, brooding, threatening, happy, majestic, stormy – you name it, the mountain shows it! Carolynn decided that a mountain with so many moods simply had to be female, as she explains here:

Callosa, by Carolynn Barclay

Every day I see this scene.

It’s an amazing stunning view.

But here’s a thought, and I bet it’s one,

That’s never occurred to you.

I’m pretty convinced Callosa’s female.

And she’s beautiful. So it’s all good.

How do I think this could be true?

Because of her ever changing mood!

When every day the sun comes up,

If we’re lucky and have no cloud,

There she stands in all her glory.

Standing alone and oh so proud.

The sun projects it’s brightening rays

Which fall on Callosa’s shape.

Tips of gold show her worth,

And leave your mouth agape.

If clouds are out, it’s doom and gloom,

But this girl, she doesn’t care.

Her dramatic curves are still on show.

Some hidden here and there.

This is her mood when darkness descends,

She’s changeable. It’s what she’s about.

She can change her mood at the drop of a hat.

She’s female, without a doubt.

But like every female, she can put on a show.

And at times, she knows how to shine.

When the sun goes down at the end of the day,

I so admire this Mountain of mine.

Her silhouette is a joy to behold.

Like a cut out against the sky.

This is when she’s at her best.

She’s beautiful. A joy to the eye.

I’ve re-read this poem many times since Carolynn published it back in spring 2022, and every time, it moves me. afresh Just like my mountain moves me every time I look at it. There are many blessings to living in Algorfa, and SHE is just one of them.