moments hide within every step

destination, and the journey itself

“you’re almost there,” he encouragingly says to us,

while Joan and I mosey up the trail,

marveling at this flower and that,

a few minutes ahead is a waterfall,

and we are going there,

we will stop and savor it,

and we will turn around after,

so it is a destination for us,

yet it’s not the reason for our hike,

this whole dell of wildflowers in old growth woods

climaxes our stroll today here in this gorgeous valley,

the waterfall the literal highpoint,

what jars me about his innocent, well-meaning comment

is an assumption that the end is most real

while I feel every moment of the journey should be glory,

I love the waterfall when we get to it,

and I snap picture after picture 

to hold a bit of its storm-fed glory 

spotlighted by a bright afternoon sun

whose return we love,

I also love each flower--

the sharp lines of the trout lily,



the proud white trillium,

the ubiquitous hepatica,

the exquisite lacy phacelia,



I stretch out onto the ground to photograph them all,

a goal can get us onto the trail,

yet we often need to stop and sense the moments

that can hide within every step.



by Henry H. Walker

April 5, ’13