Gila

I am 28 camping
In the Gila Wilderness
In western New Mexico
At 9,000 feet up the May
Morning is frosty but the sky
Is turquoise blue the pines dark
Green and Spring is creeping out
From our under snowbanks as
I roll out of my sleeping bag to
Make some hot tea with a
Bit of honey once I get
My svea stove lit and
Water boils then a
Wash of hands
And face and
I am ready
To shake
Out my
Tent
Roll it
Up pack
Break camp
March a few more
Miles into higher country
Where the aspens light green
Leaves are fresh though I know
By autumn those leaves will
Turn golden harden and
Clatter in the wind but
That is four months
Away too far away
As Spring has my
Attention for a
Week or so
Until I go
Back to
Life
In the
Muddy fields
Far below where
Food is available but
Up here I rely on freeze
Dried packets adding water
From the stream after I add an
Iodine tablet let my canteen
Sit an hour then boil the
Water in an old coffee
Pot over my campfire
A circle of yellowish
Light among dark
Ponderosa pines
And I recall my
History class
When I ask
My new
Students
What did the
New England
First settlers on
A new shore on the
Beach by the tall pines
Think was the most dangerous
Animal in the dark woods was it a
Wolf a bear a cougar or a snake
Finally telling them the most
Dangerous animal in the
Woods was them some
Argue they were not
An animal so I ask
Them what they
Were if not a
Mammal
And so
We
Began
A semester
Our dialogue
A few or so months
Long in which I tried to
Argue all truth is relative
To our own perspective truth
Having two sides both of
Which can be right at
The same time a
Concept new to
Some but all
Too clear to
Others and
To me at
9,000
Feet
Up
In the
Dark woods
Another cup of
Hot honeyed tea
Alone except
For thee.