Why I Hike

I love the music, how

this rhythmic crunching

pleases me homewards, 

as a downhill trail 

of strewn stones

and dirt taut as drumskin

greets my old boots

side-stepping piles

of coyote turds
and cougar scat

turning to pencils

of rodent fur and dust

while birdsong 

erupts and teases,

scatters then fades,

ceasing overhead.