Walking in Seattle

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WALKING IN SEATTLE 


“Uphill? Or up into the heavens? Let’s go, let’s stumble and stagger.” — Aleksandr Solzhenitzyn


The hill was no mountain, 

girding us with no conviction 

that this was a holy ascent

but still a hill, as our backs bent

forwards like a prayer were intent

to testify at every stretch. 

We were not wise but wise

enough to know that to arrive

by Streetcar would mean to find 

a different place, and so inclined 

we trudged our way upwards

another couple hundred yards. 

The sidewalk let down 

its thorny braids, and the sun 

ramped up as shoulders slumped, 

but blackberries too, in clumps.

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