A Poem (That Grew Out of Another Poem)

A Fine Hike
Richard A. Burns
August 2010

The Santa Cruz Mountains,
A fine hike up.
A superior view at the top.
A good look at the smallness of life in the bustling valley.
I feel young, beyond the reach of problems.

Then, we are coasting down the other side,
Where red-barked Madrone limbs hang low over the trail,
Smooth and cold to the touch,
Like touching cold water pipes,
So unexpected a sensation out here in the warming wild.

If I come up here in May, the sticky monkey flowers
On the sunny side of the trail
Are thick and in golden bloom.
Near the bottom, deer are hidden in the shadows.
Look carefully through thick woods along the stream.