The Gauntlet

I asked Mountain 
Do you have anything to share?
As it stood there
Huge  
Snow capped, ice shouldered
Waterfall thundering down its neck

I asked Stream
As it bludgeoned its way 
From boulder to boulder
Getting on with it fantastically 
Do you have anything to say? Any hints for me? Anything at all?  

I asked a shadowy Alpine Meadow 
In its sublime robust delicacy 
What do you have for me?
As it crept toward a promising dawn

Mountain, Stream and Meadow
Did not waste their precious time 
Explaining the inexplicable 
They preferred instead to Be

The gauntlet is thrown.

To Be 
As fiercely
As clearly
As plainly
Me  
As they 
Are them