The Greenlee Tourism Association is pleased to showcase the work of Kalen Reyes, a new member of Greenlee Tourism Association Board of Directors. Kalen brings a thoughtful perspective, a deep appreciation for community, and a gift for storytelling that reflects the spirit and resilience of the places we call home.
Kalen’s original poem, “Until the Mountain Learns My Name,” is a powerful reflection on courage, purpose, and finding light even in life’s most challenging seasons.ork explores themes of perseverance, faith, hope, and the beauty found in life’s journey.
We are honored to share her work and look forward to the creativity, insight, and passion she will bring to the Greenlee Tourism Association as we continue celebrating and promoting the remarkable landscapes, history, and communities of Greenlee County.
“Until the Mountain Learns My Name”
Once, I courted tomorrow
as though hope were a season
waiting just beyond the bend.
Next year..
Next month…
When the wind is gentler….
When the valley loosens its grip…..
Then I discovered
the mountain has no intention
of becoming smaller.
It is I
who have become acquainted with ascent.
The world has admired
the wildflowers gathered in my hands,
never noticing
the thorns still woven through my palms.
So often I clothed my sorrow in gratitude,
not because grief was absent,
but because I feared
to crown it sovereign over my days.
Yet even unnamed,
it carried weight.
Even silent,
it bled.
Still -
there is a river
no drought persuades to cease,
a flame
no tempest has negotiated into surrender.
Its name is not mine.
It is the breath of God -
moving through fractured vessels,
teaching broken reeds
to sing against the wind.
If I must dwell within the storm,
let me become
the stillness at its center.
If I must walk the battlefield,
let my feet remember
they were fashioned first
for holy ground.
Not to conquer,
but to cultivate.
Not to condemn,
but to leave gardens
where others expected scars.
I cannot promise
that every prayer will resemble rescue,
nor every dawn
the ending I imagined.
Still, I have learned
that Providence is not measured
by the absence of thunder,
but by the Voice
that outlives it.
So let the night gather
all the shadows it can carry.
I have no quarrel with the darkness.
We have become familiar,
yet I have never walked it alone.
There has always been
a lamp beyond my own keeping.
I have seen
how morning rehearses itself
long before the horizon believes.
So, should these hands
bear both burden and blessing,
let them remain open.
For Love has never asked me
to wait until the war is over.
Only
to keep becoming light
where the battle
cannot imagine it belongs.
-Kalen Reyes