climbing on rocks

Climbing easily over huge seaside boulders

Infused with colorful veins scoured by the tide

Admiring the striated patterns underfoot etched in the rock 

As I step smoothly up and down from one to the next 

Peering below at the swirling crashing waves

Confident in my balance and the grip of my soles

So special to be able to do this as an old man

Even with binoculars dangling and camera in hand

This could be my younger self on the rocks in Marblehead harbor

Or scrambling over the fallen talus under the Hudson Palisades

Or hiking up the summit cone of Mount Washington

Before taking giant steps down to Lake Tear of the Clouds

These rocks are so much older than human life 

That in comparison I was born just this instant

Here I feel not so old as I look around at the natural world 

Viewing the sky out across the water to the distant horizon

Standing here alive and intact on solid bedrock in Maine

Able  to move effortlessly at the edge of the continent

Quietly celebrating reaching a personal annual milestone

The memories of a lifetime merge into this perfect moment

Coastal Maine Botanical Garden August 10, 2020

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Merrymeeting Bay August 9, 2020

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endlessly why

They drove up just as we started out walking

But I didn't see them until later when we doubled back

To find the unmarked trailhead beginning the loop

Hiking our way through the Maine woods.

Seen as silhouettes in the distance

Two adults and two children coming towards us

Summer people like us to judge by their license plate

Also exploring and enjoying some outdoor exercise. 

The youngest child can be heard aways off

A boy bounding with energy and inquisitiveness

Wanting to know all about everything in this world 

Delighted to encounter this place full of wonder.

The parents kept busy responding to his questions

Reminding me how curious children ask endlessly why

And every answer only leads to another question

Trying to get to the bottom of it all.

The parents are perhaps half my advancing age

So I think they may overtake us walking faster

But we are striding right along keeping ahead of the mosquitoes

As we listen to their dialogue following us behind.

I know there comes a point when the answer is not known

And the question will then get posed why don't you know

And the best we can do is to encourage the desire to learn

Explaining how people are still figuring it out.

I don't see them again until we're back where we started

And we leave without ever being close enough to say hello

Though I see the father wave to us in my rear view mirror

And I wave back at someone sad to say I will never see again.