Lifer Maps
by Odin Roark

How telling,
That which is thought lost
In folds of one’s map.

Easily forgotten traverses
Of forbidden goals
Remembered well,
Where creases squeezed tight
Once shown clear one's youthful terrain,
Those unmarked paths taken off the beaten track,
Beset by thorns and poison,
Rivaled only by the indomitable spirit of aspirant dreams,
Daring defiance once lived with abandon,
A course memory left marked on the map,
Now a deep wear-torn crevasse in memoriam.

Came later goals,
Lofty peaks,
Longer treks,
Rest stops remained postponed.

As finally…

Challenges now lead ever higher,
Pathfinder instincts give direction,
Around and across tributaries of melting adolescence.

How telling
The transition,
The traverse
Into wiser routes,
The gaze upon pinnacles,
Once one dared not attempt.

How revealing
These mountainous passages,
Life's ever changing topography,
The rock-hard experience dispersing to scree,
Tapering to a valley floor,
Time's gradual erosion,
Marking a well spent expedition,
Ready to venture outside one's neatly folded map.

Even so…

Unchartered imaginings remain eternal.

First steps await…

Again.