Sonnets From Other Lives: Pilgrim

It will be another hour or so he thinks
before the sun reaches this narrow valley .
He’ll wait ‘til then to strip--wash off the stink
in the icy stream before he rallies
himself once more and resumes his trek.
Long leagues & longer days have worn him down.
Lingering & loafing—he’ll respect
the body’s soft request to sit around
this morning in this grove beside this stream
with this cup of chai—this book of poems—
before resuming onward with this dream-
like journey from his previous life to roam
these cold mountains on his aimless quest.
But first he’ll sit back a spell & rest.