Photography, 11” x 17”, Framed

Prospect

By Carlynn Trout

I took the Ring Road to get here, passing through one Icelandic lunar landscape after another until I found the Skjálfandafljót River and climbed to this pinnacle to view Godafoss, waterfall of the gods. It feels momentous, like attaining the summit of my own life. I’m at a peak, a precipice, with nothing left to ascend. Only descent by foot or flight awaits. 

I watch the water plunge over basalt cliffs and tumble tumultuously into the volcanic pits below. Mossy crags and mist, lava deposits, milky rivers, steam vents, and tectonic plates define this ancient place, just as I imagined it to be when I was a boy, happily lost in the labyrinth of Norse tales. 

Now that I see and feel Godafoss firsthand, I can take my next step. If not for the force and cacophony of this long-imagined place, I could not finish my own saga.