aging, and the tolls

I still rise

as my years add up,

I wonder how and when

I’ll have to pay the increasing tolls,

will I be able to still bike 2 1/2 miles up the valley?

I do, again, and yet I fear

each time I turn the page

that this time I won’t quite make it up,

I hike hard on the A.T.,

and muscles and agility still work

well enough to get me here to there,

and back again,

despite the hours of rain

that dog my enthusiasm,

I bike over 10 miles around Cades Cove,

see 9 bears, mostly enjoying the wild cherries,

and all still works,

my doubts and fears weigh on me,

yet, for now, I can still rise,

when it’s time to let go, I hope to know how,

while it’s still time to do, I hope to do well,

still I cry when “great webs of sorrow” grab me for a time.

by Henry H. Walker

August 12, ’14