Every Colorado Hike

by Megan Willome

EVERY COLORADO HIKE

Late to the hike. Because Jesus. Because prayer.

The trail: only a handful of miles.

We have legs and lungs enough. Plus joy.

You do not have the right shoes.

I forgot my jacket.

We did not expect four seasons today.

Isaiah begins with mountains.

Micah sets them in the messy middle.

Revelation ends atop the highest of the high.

A kestrel joins us on the way up,

cries klee klee klee.

Each pine needle could pierce

our golden sun.

We pass a crossroads,

reach the view, the lake,

the picnic spot obscured

by sudden storm above tree line.

Three hikers in black look

into nothing with wise eyes,

warn us the worst

part is the trek down.

This everlasting hill

takes vengeance on our feet,

our fears. But we are reading the signs:

This is the way, walk ye in it.

There is no way down but down.

No way around. No other dwelling place.

Tomorrow we climb again.

MEGAN WILLOME

Megan Willome is the author of Love & other Mysteries, a poetry collection about Song of Solomon and the Mysteries of the Rosary. Her work has been published at Calla Press, Every Day Poems, Solum Journal, The Windhover, and The Way Back to Ourselves. She also has a memoir, The Joy of Poetry, and a children's book, Rainbow Crow. Her day is incomplete without poetry, tea, and a walk in the dark.