Sound Barriers
Distractions while Hiking Cadillac Mountain

I thought I'd never break
the 'barrier' this hike.
Between the Mayfly bites
and piercing motorbike
on motorbike below
echoing up the flow

of seeming wilderness,
I felt the sting of mind
refuse to be becalmed
by tread and trail combined.
And add to that this shrill
distraction joined uphill:

a wedding bride and groom
and animated guests,
ascending towards the peak,
traditionally dressed
in some things old and new.
I threw in something ‘blue’.

Yet somewhere on that ridge,
the promise, drive, and pain
it takes to make the summit
emptied out my brain
of everything I knew,
leaving this sweeping ocean view.















copyright Gregory Perry 05/03