Finally

Taking off your day pack
To sit on rock by the river
Tipping your canteen back
Happy to be a life liver

Watching the birds' redirection
They dodge and weave in the trees
Silent in peaceful reflection
Can I do that just once Father please?

The sun threatens the horizon
With intention to set it ablaze
Thankful I have sunglasses on
Blindness is the price that one pays

My friend is preparing our site
And I watch him go down the list
Not to critique wrong from right
To see where I might assist

The darkness sets free all its children
As the light seems to blend into black
I sponsor the whoosh from my lantern
That I timely removed from my pack

We sit there for several hours
And talk about nothing at all
Amazed at how much food he devours
Before sleep once again makes me fall

I dream of the landscape before me
And people that I know are my friends
To battle we ride off in camaraderie
Never knowing how this story ends

All rights reserved to James M. Cox