I much prefer
the tougher roads
with all those bends
and endless detours
their jagged rocks
and signposts down
or faded lines
those sharp inclines
and sudden drops
and then the forks
and cul de sacs,
the ones that make you
tread so far
only then to double back.
An easy path
might make a way
enjoyable
or fast at least
but then I'd never
learn these scars,
or own these aches,
flex muscles with
more stamina
to cross the lands
as I trek now.
This discipline
of unpaved means
trades asphalt
for the random greens
of nature's whims
and forces you
to measure steps.
More rugged routes
- those never plowed -
pose challenges
and dares I'll take
because they'll be
those paths I make.