Life Maps

How telling

that which is thought lost

in fold of our numerical map.

Easily forgotten traverses

of forbidden goals

are remembered well

where crevasses squeezed tight

our youthful ventures into terrain

believed clear of obstacle.

So many unmarked paths taken off the worn tracks,

beset by thorny missteps,

odds rivaled only by the indomitable spirit

of immortal dreams daring defiance

one lived in abandon,

a course our memories left marked on the map,

now a deep wear-torn fissure in memoriam.

Come late goals,

lofty peaks,

longer treks,

rest stops postponed,

statistical time waning.

Finally…

Challenges lead ever higher,

pathfinder instincts give direction around and across

tributaries of melting seasonal past.

So long a wait...

How telling

the transition,

the crisscross into wiser routes,

the arm-chair-gaze-upon-pinnacles

one dares only attempt,

with wisdom’s protection

and evolution’s trusted movement.

Realistic wanderings

where once imagination ruled,

the now of reality remembered

packed safely in one’s forever-backpack.

Life’s mountainous passages,

occasion’s ever-changing topography,

history’s rock-hard experience retiring to scree,

tapering to a valley floor,

Time’s gradual erosion marking a well spent expedition

prepared to venture outside one’s neatly folded map.

So many ventures of another dimension await,

as uncharted imaginings continue into

the first steps of our next iteration.