Wildcat Ridge August 11, 2019

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rolling backwards downhill

My neighbor across the street drives an old car

That needs a new transmission but the children come first

So he worked out how to drive without reverse gear

While living at the end of our dead end street.

Expressing my sympathy for the difficulty he’s in

He dismissed it as nothing being so used to it

His car going on two years like this with no end in sight

Parent to two kids in college with three more behind.

You should see how he does it smooth as a pro

Letting his car roll backwards down the street slope

As he returns in the evening coming home after work

Getting parked pointed uphill set to head out again.

He drives a big rig at work delivering building supplies

Sometimes backing it down our narrow street block

Stopping off at home for lunch when his work is nearby

So it’s easy for him to be steering his car backwards.

He's such a great father playing with his kids

And sweet with their mother who wanted a large family

She who works as a teacher in the next town

These two people grew up here and stayed around. 

Like so many who are pressed to make ends meet

Needing some help from both of their parents most days

Watching the children and dropping off groceries

For me this is personal though I don't know them so well.

I know what it’s like to have little money to spend

And now that I have plenty I want to give it to those who don’t

Concerned for these good people who make an honest living

No one deserves such a struggle to get by.

Celery Farm August 10, 2019

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trail walker

Grandma Gatewood walked through Hartland, Vermont

Invited to stay the night one fine day in August, 1955

As I learned all these many years later reading a book

Telling the story of how she hiked the Appalachian Trail.

I was there in Hartland at the time nine years old

On vacation with my family staying at a special place

A grand brick house with the stately name of Great Oaks

On a country dirt road with dairy farms all around.

I would have liked to see Grandma walk through town

Had I but known what was going on back in the day

And even today what I don't know would fill many a book

Like the people I learn that I missed when reading obits.

But that boy just turned nine was having the time of his life

Playing by the brook and swimming in the pond

Visiting the cows in the pasture and the farmer in the barn

Catching frogs and snakes in a world of wonder.

I remember climbing the trail up Smarts Mountain to the fire tower

Unaware we were following in Grandma's footsteps

Never imagining someone able to walk all two thousand miles alone

The way she showed what's possible to all who came after.

These days I enjoy walking a few miles on the trail

Greeting the through hikers hurrying north

Happy to see their energy and excitement in their stride

Proud of their achievement having come so far along.

I'm never going to complete that challenging trek

Though I'm no older than she was when she stepped out

As I climb the foothills of very old mountains an old man myself

I don't have to go very far to find beauty in nature.