Wander

The sun meets my eyes

As it shines through the crevices

Of the rocks on this mountainside

The peak still far from sight

If I would have worked overnight

Maybe I’d be closer

And I wouldn’t have so much left to climb

So I throw on my pack

Get a start on my hike

Eyes glued to the ground

Arms at my side

There’s no time to think

There’s no time to enjoy

Because the destination is waiting

And I’m nowhere near the top

The days turn into nights

With the blink of an eye

Each day I wake up

Just picturing the climb

The way that it must feel

To be up that high

Where the air is frigid

And the breeze never subsides

And my knees nearly broken

From all those hills I’ve climbed

How good it will feel

To finally enjoy the taste

Of a home cooked meal

After going all this way

Mind focused on the end

Not even comprehending the day

I’m lost in this journey

I haven’t even noticed the way

The sunlight hits the snow

As it comes up to start the day

Or the way the stars glow

When the clouds begin to fade

Or how your laugh

Brings a smile to my face

Because someday it won’t be there

When my brown hair turns gray

Or how coffee in the morning

Makes everything okay

Now with new eyes

I picture what it looks like

At the peak, when I’ve “arrived”

The body has deteriorated

My muscles, half the size

And my eyes wide open

Trying to take it all in this time

Because the view from the sky

Isn’t as great as the climb

The trees are no longer green

They’re just woody and dying

Grass can no longer spring

From the dirt, because there's only rocks

And my feet don’t feel like moving

All they do is hurt

And I look back down

At all the people I left behind

Not a single person waving

They’re all consumed by time

Nobody remembers me leaving

Because they’re busy on their own climbs

As I look down from this height

At what was once, just a simple line

That I wrote down in my moleskine:

You can never go back in time

So enjoy where you’re at

Don’t wish away the nights

I snap back into reality

My hands on my face

No wrinkles

Hair isn’t gray

It’s just me

Here in this place

A space that’ll someday

Be a memory, that I’ll try to

Recreate

No need to watch my feet

Because there’s so much more to see

Than the aglets of my laces

And the rocks under each one of my paces

So I stop

Take a second to ponder

Where I’m at

Before I continue to wander.