The higher pathway

photo: Clovelly, Devon

The higher pathway is a challenge:

there are steps to face -

each cobbled surface confronts

or confounds unsteady feet.

Tired, I take each stride with pedantic care

and care-worn fragility.

An ungainly gait in pilgrim footfalls

for higher, better.

The path displays its own beauty

beguiling, enticing, entrancing,

snaring moments in elasticity.

Weariness draws the eye to the immediate –

this stone, that shape, that colour,

and, for a while,

no headway evolution is gained.

Then rain-dropped rivulets steal down

tempting an upward glance and trigger progression.

If I stay on the path

there will be an eternal reminder

that each pace is a victory.