Why This Path: To Karen, Dec 1993 Much farther on, a summit is firmly attached to this rocky path as, bordered with berries, it leads along the outcrop, along valley cliffs, green, red, treacherous and glorious at every turn, waking us into this moment now, each moment new, now, again. Dust clings to our soles, shifts, blows, holds our traces, watched from the wind by the sun-held hawk who takes in everything in its turn, as we take ours, graced. Silence drums dimly against lichened crags as the sun pauses, creasing the scene deeply. We sit, mid-path, knowing, once again, who we are here and why and why this path. .