Taking stock
You can’t turn around
Just a few steps
Up the trail
All you will see
Is your own footsteps
No, you have to climb
Slip and fall and cry
Through the long night
Leap and spin and laugh
With the unexpected field of flowers
Around the high bend
And now here, yes –
Yes this is the point
When you can turn
See that winding path
You trod and made
See the beautiful footholds
You have left for others
Cool yourself by this mountain lake
See the view – the view
That was not possible
Until now
And then look up
At those tiny, strong figures
Waving you
Ever
Higher
Typewriter Rodeo airs each Friday on Texas Standard. Send us your ideas for a poem on 
