Vision Quest

The young man
stopped to catch
his breath,
he was exhausted,
not so much
from the pack he
was carrying
but from the fasting
and the long drive.

He looked up the
side of the valley to the
line of tall dark spruce
he was heading for,
it was getting late
so he pressed on.

He found a place
just inside the trees
with a good view
out into the distance,
and unpacked his gear.

He had come to this
wild, empty spot
to find a vision,
so he settled down
for the night,
to watch and to wait.

It was overcast,
as the light faded
there were no stars
to keep him company,
just car headlamps
In the distance,
but eventually
they stopped
and he was alone.

He sat for hours,
searching the
darkness to no avail,
chasing thoughts and images
until he woke with a start,
the grey light of dawn
all around him.

He felt disappointed
and angry with himself,
he hadn’t had a vision,
he couldn’t even
remember if he’d
dreamed anything
while he was sleeping.
He started to feel that
perhaps the whole idea
had been ill conceived
and pretentious.

He lit his stove and
set about opening a
tin of beans to break
his fast when he heard
the Jackdaws.

That was when
he saw the mist,
rolling and crashing
down through the trees,
the chill washing over him,
one magnificent, ghostly wave
after another, tumbling
down the hillside and into
the valley below.

Above him the
Jackdaws circled,
calling furiously to
one another and then,
like the mist,
they were gone.

11-7-11

fromagreenhill.com