Simply Sunday

Limits

How do I know them
without testing
How do I test
without facing fears

Once set, how do I
accept and maintain
Or know when it’s time
to test them again

Questions resurfacing
during recent scenic,
but harrowing drives

Past experiences in cars
suddenly out of control
inducing present fears

My desire to stand under
the wisdom of giant trees
tugging at my soul

A fear my body remembers
fighting with an experience
my heart strongly desires

A work in progress
Accepting my limits
Not giving them control

Forever treasuring the
feeling of walking through
a grove of Giant Sequoias

Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park

Mariposa

You greet me with
the fresh scent of
pine bark and soil

Like the smell of air before rain

Your guardians stand
majestic and grand, some
over a thousand years

I am a guest in your home

Gray squirrels scurry
across fallen branches,
dark-eyed juncos sing

Sweet melodies reminding
me again my visitor status
This is not my home

A message reinforced
in my tired body with
each continuing step

How foolish to consider
only the humans who first
encountered your wonder

Now, I imagine a black bear
lumbering through your
gates, groggy from hibernation

A yellow warbler finding
rest in your treetops
following a long migration

A swallowtail sipping
sustenance in a meadow
of springtime flowers

Thank you seems insufficient
Today, it is all
my heart can manage

Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park