Another Hill

Another story to be told,
another verse to rhyme,

another truth to ponder,

another hill to climb.

Sometimes when I feel restless,

I grab my hiking pack.

I stuff inside my tent and gear

and strap it on my back.

I search my map for some new path

that leads to higher ground,

to somewhere I’ve not been before

where I can hear the sound

of water as it falls past rocks

to pools in canyon streams,

and fill my mind with images

for future poems and dreams:

a field of summer blossoms,

a sun-drenched mountain peak,

a stand of noble conifers,

fish swimming in a creek.

A feast awaits my senses

high in the alpine air,

but it requires effort;

it’s work to get them there.

Sometimes my route is level

and shaded by the trees,

but most the time the way is steep

and hurts my back and knees.

Sometimes the trail is yielding,

made soft by leaves or peat,

but often it is strewn with rocks

that pound and bruise my feet.

The toil and strain of hiking

is not the only way

to view an alpine sunrise

or canyons on display.

Roads lead to other landscapes

as wondrous, fine, and fair;

but half my source of pleasure

is the toil that gets me there.

For if my destinations

I reach without some pain,

the end without the journey

would hardly be the same.

I prize the satisfaction

from each challenge faced and met.

The feeling on each summit

is worth the price, and yet

no matter how fulfilling,

no matter how sublime,

there always looms before me

another hill to climb:

another lesson to be learned,

another one to teach;

a youngster to inspire,

another one to reach;

another error to make right,

a fault to overcome;

another chance to recommence

a labor left undone;

a weakness yet to conquer;

a talent to improve;

another sin to cast away;

a sorrow yet to sooth;

another gift to offer;

another cause for prayer;

another hour on my knees;

another cross to bear;

another glimpse of beauty;

another friend to make;

a chance to prove obedient;

a sacred vow to take.

Ascending makes me stronger.

I cherish every time

my God imparts His blessing of

another hill to climb.

Another story to be told,

another verse to rhyme,

another truth to ponder,

another hill to climb.

*As with hiking, it is true in life that there will always be another 'hill' to climb. After each trial or accomplishment something else will inevitably be there waiting. That is why I try to find 'joy in the journey' and live in the present.