The Trailblazer

On a cold and damp morning 

Through a thick, foggy haze

I hiked along a familiar trail 

Until I discovered a blaze

Not a dry stream or animal track

But a path made with boots  

A trailblazer had strayed into the unknown

Climbing boulders and old exposed roots    

So I too left the reliable way 

Pursuing the secrets of trees 

I pushed through old vines and into dark woods 

To see what a trailblazer sees 

But the blaze was much harder to follow

The path was often broken 

But every time I found myself lost, 

I spied the trailblazer’s token  

The first cairn had been stacked

Near an old gnarled oak 

Balanced stones pointing the way 

And thus the trailblazer spoke

Through blackberry bramble and down a ravine  

The cairns were leading me deeper

My boots caked in mud, I crab-walked and slid 

The slope increasingly steeper 

Then the blaze ended at a final rock pile 

The last statement from my host   

The trailblazer had found a pristine, secret place

Untouched by man, almost 

A crystal pond was  being fed

By a meandering, laughing brook 

It called to me, inviting me in

And so I inched forward to look

There stood a Great Blue Heron

Stalking the edge of the water 

And a bale of turtles were standing guard  

For a rambunctious brown otter 

The trees all had names 

Some even had faces 

The wisest and eldest 

To watch over such places 

This place had a magic 

It was thick in the air  

An electric vibration that made me ask 

What else is hiding out there?  

How many wonders like this one

Do I pass by everyday?

I’ve always stayed on well known trails

Perhaps, it’s better to stray? 

Stray? Yes, stray! 

And let’s start today!

Forsake that familiar, comfortable way. 

And who gives a damn what others will say? 

So gather up stones 

There are more cairns to make 

And blaze beyond the secret pond 

Forging trails that seekers will take