Hiking After Rain

1.

The woods altogether are silent,
mud and wet leaves slick.
Branches shaken by breeze
send showers.

The hiker, now well out of sight,
got surely wet
as if he had slept in a stream.

and his clothes will steam
if and when
sun finally comes out.

2.

The trail climbs up
out of trees to uneven talus.
What the hiker sees
is the trail
and the tops of his feet.

He is looking down
and has to
to keep from falling;
at the top looks up.

What he sees is the next mountain over.
This is what sinks deep:
the view of
that next mountain over.

3.

The pack weighs heavy on his mind
and he sits down hard,
much harder,
perhaps,
than expected.
By habit, he looks at his watch,
takes a good long drink,
twists the cap back onto the bottle,

and then lies back.
He is lying in meadow of flowers
and can hear bees buzz.

He shuts eyes and breathes in,
breathes out.
Just breathing is what most matters.

He sleeps and his sleep is dreamless,
but in his mind
he feels the mountain next over sleeping.
It is dreaming him.