2011 Issue - Santa Fe Community College

Day Hike
by Kenneth P. Gurney
We stopped seeking the druids,
the mistletoe on centuries old oaks,
the sacred groves now ash blown
by a two-millennial wind.
We stood at the brown river bank,
no ferry or crossing apparent.
The terra cotta shards below the muddy surface
reside too deep for our shod feet to feel.
We stopped seeking the old gods
the wild hunt run through the woods,
the in-grave kings and queens of legend
placed under Glastonbury’s hill.
So what if we forget all the old names
of ghost towns lost to the eye
and find the century old grave stones
have all been rubbed bare.
So what if we trod the long ago creek beds
that, now, are the ridges of hills.
So what if we are lost in songs sung
with a beer steadily grasped in one hand.
102 Santa Fe Literary Review