Suggestion
\nBy
\nJoseph Anthony Petro<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Life isn\u2019t like a rollercoaster with steep, anticipatory climbs
\nAnd sudden, exhilarating drops. It\u2019s more like walking through the woods
\nAlong a path that keeps disappearing and reappearing
\nAt seemingly random points along the way.
\nThe next time it disappears, walk only
\nUntil you find a level enough space to pitch a tent,
\nAnd then spread out all your stuff\u2014your current, new-fandangled (and unreliable)
\nCompass, your dented kettles, your books and journals,
\nPocketknives and pieces of flint, and your old, crumbling
\nProvisions wrapped in old, crumbling tin foil, and hunker down
\nFor the night, or the better part of a day or a week,
\nOr until you begin to feel like a caterpillar tired of its own cocoon,
\nAnd when that happens, wriggle out of your sleeping bag,
\nCrawl through the narrow, triangular opening,
\nStand, stretch, look around, scratch your head, and you\u2019ll find–there,
\nWhere you hadn\u2019t noticed it before, will be the path,
\nAnd today it might be inclining upwards, and just the sight of it
\nWill be enough to make your legs ache,
\nBut slowly get down on your hands and knees anyway,
\nAnd start packing everything back up, stuffing everything
\nBack down in your knapsack, and then tie on the kettles
\nAnd hoist the whole kit and caboodle over your shoulders,
\nWhere it will likely knock you off balance a little,
\nBut then steady yourself, take a deep breath,
\nAnd start trudging again.
\nAnd after awhile of walking, looking at the ground,
\nIf you keep your sense of awareness at the ready,
\nYou will suddenly bump into another hiker
\nAnd you\u2019ll walk, side by side, sharing stories,
\nThings you\u2019ve seen and heard along the way,
\nAnd suddenly, without either of you even realizing it
\nThe weight on your backs will have lightened,
\nAnd the path, no matter whether it\u2019s clear or not,
\nWill be clear now that you\u2019ve fallen in step
\nWith someone else heading to the same place;
\nThat place, over there, that\u2019s really actually here,
\nWhere you\u2019re walking, together, on the journey
\nTo yourself, to each other, to the wide open space
\nCalled Freedom.<\/p>\n