Perfect Hiker

Sometimes the trail is too steep

Your boots slide

On loose rocks

At every step

Your knees shudder

Barely keeping

You upright

It might be time

To give up

Your perfect techniques

Your way of planting

Your hiking sticks just so

Just sit down and slide

Let gravity do its work

As your butt glides over the rocks

It is a dusty trail

You’ll be covered in grime

Before you are done

But it is the only way

To get down a trail

That is too steep for you

Maybe too steep for anyone

With any sense

The point is always

To make it home

In one piece

Clean doesn’t matter

In the long run.

Perfection is over-rated

Actual trail on Mount Tamalpais