These train tracks

don’t lead to the station anymore

they aren’t traveled

except by me

they follow a river

looping high into the mountains

Above

ordinary destinations

rusted trestles

bridge

great divides

as I step between the ties

avoiding empty air

where white water rages

beneath me

blocking out nature’s sound

I move through geologic time

reconnecting

to what my grandfather knew

overgrown paths

make this once known land

a mystery

Cut through the wilderness

and wild again

Now

only the animals know it

as I

walk into their midst

just as wild.