“They Too have Climbed Mountains”

As you climb a high hill

and look back to the valley from whence you came,

which of your footsteps along the way

would you hold in a measure of judgment

above the others?… Would you say

the steps that carried you forth at your beginning

were of lesser importance

than those by which you now arrive?

Neither judge you your brothers

when they stumble with eagerness, or limp with pain.

Whether they be presently walking on a high hill

or in a darkened valley,

they too, have climbed mountains;

and their pathways would merge with all others,

ere any reach their destination…

~ Fred Lansford

Filed under: Peace-full Poetry by Scaughdt