Soon as they could walk
Boy or girl it didn’t matter
They trekked the jungle
One mile. Multiplied by two each year.
At fifteen he could track for thirty miles.
Not dragging his feet or daydreaming
He herded cattle
Roamed vast deserted land
His heart aching for adventure
Week after week, month after month
He trekked farther
Hoping…
However far her journeyed
Passed the same bleached skull,
The same rolling mounds of sand
The distant mountain remained unreachable
Blinding sweat dripped from his brow
Sand in his water bottle grinding between his teeth.
Despite shaking muscles at the end of every day
He got up and trekked the next day and the next
Year after year
Hoping…
Even now after eighty years
Hoping…
‘If you desire to become a legend
You will have to do better than I did’
He’d tell the youth.
All the while, hoping…
Five of them listened to him
Set out to touch the mountain
Determined
And hoping…
Day after day and night after night
An eighty-three year old
Watches the horizon for their return
Hoping…