precious cargo

 the flowers loudly call

Joan is an inspiration:

her body has decided that her right knee

can no longer function as well

as its design specs imagine,

so she consults doctor and physical therapist, and herself,

and finds out what she needs to do to persevere,

she hears she needs to keep walking

that she needs a staff to stabilize her walk,

so that the rest of her body doesn't crescendo down

in sympathy to the distortion

her 50% knee demands of the rest of her body,

today, she doesn't know how far her knee will let her go

up into Greenbrier where her beloved wildflowers call to her,

Joan makes it 95% of the way into Eden,

the phacelia almost swallow her in the exuberance of their flowering,

we often challenge each other to drive safely

for we feel they have "previous cargo,"

Joan, I am so pleased that your "precious cargo"

once again made it high into the wonder

that wildflowers in the Smokies can give so fully to us.

by Henry H. Walker

April 3, ‘25