Grounded

For two weeks, a  lingering cold and and a colonoscopy, 

kept me off the hiking trail.

Tonight was a perfect night to step away from work and tread over dirt paths I travel frequently.

The earth grounds me, as does familiar terrain so

the combination soothed me like a warm homecoming.

The harsh August light ebbed slowly into evening.  

I watched the air over the Pacific get dense and gray,

while softer pinks radiated from the setting sun.  

These hikes are my meditation, the sands in my hourglass.
I can never take for granted their significance, these granules of time, foot contacting hiking trail, for the sum of these moments gives my life magnitude.