Lifting the backpack
onto my shoulders
I leave baggage behind,
my own and that of others
the load of the pack
more bearable than that
of the day-to-day rigmarole
the drama now belongs
to the adventure ahead
I am reminded of the Utah Juniper,
a desert tree that can choose
to self-prune,
to have certain branches
die in times of drought,
so the tree itself survives,
thriving, even with death
bravely displayed
Oh, to be such a tree–
With druidical wisdom
emerging from the desert
Grey Sparrow Journal 