Pilgrim on the John Muir Trail

All These Steps

The Trail Leads Home

an eleven-year-old girl
hiking with her dad
see this heart-shaped rock
gonna give it to my mom
the trail leads home

lunch stop
those tiny white flowers
have yellow centers
I start to miss
my grandchildren

looking down at Tully Hole
am emerald gem
in a granite-peak setting
wishing it would fit
your finger

Bathed in Light

Convert

approaching treeline
in a granite-rimmed bowl
beneath
a no-cloud sky
I bow . . . bow

passing us
a guy says
this is my church
I want to ask him
where do I tithe?

before sunrise
sitting on a flat rock
by the stream
I don't have to jump in
to be saved

Re-Entry

almost at the valley
the Merced River
rushes down
past a lot of people
who took showers this morning