Poems by New Yorkers posting on holiday from the Long Trail / Appalachian in Vermont. Seth Warner Shelter, August 30th, 2014
My first solo backpack trip and I ran into a troop of freshmen from Williams College. I was dreading hunkering down with college students but they turned out to be good company and a bright bunch. Brad grabbed at the idea of writing a poem. He captured, I think, what was in the minds of many freshmen, many hikers – even my own.
Nature is exhausting.
Empty hours filled with thinking,
regretting, sad worrying.
Surrounded by peers
that require feigned joy –
Quick, smile for the camera,
crack a quick joke –
then back to the pain
of the loneliness and uncertainty.
Love lost and friendships shattered,
Pondering alternative endings.
Cook dinner, force a laugh,
Escape to your dreams.
Nature is exhausting.
Brad C., keep going. Keep focused on the future, though it might be rough and difficult to see at times. The future is out there waiting for you. Waiting to embrace you. And the future is patient even when the present is dragging your feet. Please keep going.
Thank you, Brad C., for sharing your thoughts with the world. You are beautiful and talented and brave. You might not be able to hear that or grasp on to that right now because the fog of uncertainty can play tricks on you, whisper words of doubt into your mind; but, you need to know: Others have been where you are, feeling things similar to what you feel, and we have made it thru. And you will, too. I promise. Just keep going.
Lovely words Bobby. Yes!