A Hike – A Poem

A Hike

I really don’t know what to say.
What to write.
Words are frivolous things.
Scribbles on a page
seeping out of our mouths
evaporating
in the air.

There is a memory
like soft water
that pulls me under
a strong undercurrent
coursing
along
my consciousness.

We made our way
up the switchbacks
and climbed the small folds
of land at the base
of the hill.
Sand colored dirt stuck
to our shoes
as we hiked the ridges
ascending slowly
through the flora
the sage and the sumac
the yucca
clinging to the hard
unyielding soil.

I remember that day as the closest
I have ever been
to you
though we did not speak much
even when we crested the hill
and looked out
and you pointed out the trail
that continued yet
on before us
extending further up
into the foothills
into the eastern mountains
brown and purple
and lost.

Turning back you humored me
in my imagined quest
and we left the path
making straight through
a hazardous descent
to the base
of the hill
where a lake lay
and we cut ourselves
on the treacherous blades
of the tall reeds
blooming with white flowers
that grew along the bank.
You quietly accepted
my folly
enduring the hardships
with patience.

We are given a brief glimpse
under the fullness of time
together for a moment
no longer than a sigh
a gasp
of amazement
at the wonder of creation
flashing and dazzling
us
and gone.

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For my father, Carl.