For Thomas Jefferson

Because you said it is

our unalienable right

we pursued it earnest as joggers

studied maps, consulted specialists.

Is this the right forest? Is

that the mountain? Where

is the path?

Maybe we passed it

in the dark unknowing.

Should we turn back?

We rested and took food only

that we might continue.

No time for thoughts or dreaming.

But now at last

what joy to know

there is no happiness

on this earth!

∞

From the Fall 1995 issue of Inquiring Mind (Vol. 12, No. 1)

Text © 1995-2020 by William Buchanan