½ mile of brilliant sun for mountain climbing
Stepping stones, swaying cedars, loosely pasted clouds
The trail up & down is winding 
The birds sing crisply, all is sound.

​

Many only hike in spring time
When weather’s kind w/flowers blooming
You and I have hiked in moonlight
In winter’s cold with downpour looming.

​

Wisconsin weather, hope for better, constant shifting.
Warmth is short & spring a transit to several other seasons
Holding hands, continuously glad, at times together drifting
Trusting w/a grain of salt, afraid of repetitive treason.

​

Nonsensical cycles of cynicism & mirth
Who next will have the upper hand?
Retaliant trifles, criticism, re-birth
High-tide returns, yet still no one has a plan.

​

Patience through periodic disasters
Forgiveness gurgling up akin to groundwater
A heart that molds yet hardens like alabaster
Shape-shifting, spinning in the hands of the potter.

​

Our eyes re-centered to the distance
The present obscured and over-pixelated
Foolish, brave, or just persistent?
At times, dizzied & gazing, feeling asphyxiated.

​

Eternally gleaming since the day I met you
Is a joy that outreaches what harkens
Everlasting, not counterfeit, perfectly in place, undeniable
How I see despite how much my vision darkens

​

Inseparable, unintelligible how God has brought us closer
So I’m the one who fell in love, yet he’s the one who chose her
Though light & love, they’ll re-surface every eve of spring,
& we could hug & hold tight enough to outlast the winter’s windy sting.

​

I kneel before you & promise now
In the face of seasons that never stop
Let this spring & trail be your symbols—
I’ll become your balanced rock.