This Hard Trail

A Shakespearean Sonnet about the Appalalcian Trail with Paralles to life.

This Hard Trail

A Shakespearean Sonnet by Joe Wade

 

The trail was steep and hard to hike along,

And stranger friends were found and lost in miles.

The paths we took of blazed chance was long,

And home as hard to find as love or smiles.

 

The rain, the hail, and wind, with cold and snow,

Was beating faces broken from fierce fights.

For fighting men of power walking low,

Will crawl a mile of hell to grander sights.

 

In climbing heights, the top reveals the gain

Of learning truths is from forbearance through

The journey in fog and frozen nights of strain.

The triumph loses taste and proves untrue.

 

The best of life is pain and gain between

All steps and breaths and smaller gifts unseen.