I. The Ridge and the Pears
The peak sat high in a crown of white,
His teacher had warned him: "Travel light.
Fill not your pack with the heavy and vain,
For a burdened back is a journey in pain."
Near the rocky ridge, sweet pears hung low,
Enough to fuel where he needed to go.
He reached for the branch, then paused his hand,
And widened his gaze to perceive the land.
βIf I carry them all, I am bound to the ground,
My eyes will grow narrow, my steps unbound.
Iβll miss the trap, or Iβll miss the wayβ
And the squirrels need fruit for a colder day.β
He watched a bee on a blossom dance,
And left the pears to the wild and chance:
βLet the bees work on, let the sweet fruit grow,
In case I descend to the vale below.β
II. The Nectar, The Thistle, and The Trap
A purple thistle stood sharp and high,
As a busy worker went buzzing by.
βThe bee seeks nectar, the fly seeks decay,
Yet both can be trapped on the winding way.
Does the bee see the spider web spun in the trees?
Does the Venus flytrap distinguish the bees?β
His mind drifted back to a woman of old,
In a provocative dress, with a voice turned coldβ
Who called him perverse for the spark in his eye,
When sheβd laid out the nectar as he walked by.
βIf you show the nectar,β he thought with a grin,
βThe natural response isn't error or sin.
You are but a thistle, sharp-edged and wild.β
And lost in his thought, he walked on like a child.
He stepped past a dead squirrel, dried in the sun,
(A meal for the ridge when the climbing was done)β
He missed it entirely, his mind in a fog,
Fixated on thistles beside a wet log.
III. The Stream and the Breadcrumbs of Slate
βWhat use is a thistle?β he pondered aloud,
As a dark shadow drifted across a gray cloud.
βWhere the nettle stings, the dock leaf grows near;
Perhaps this sharp plant is a cure for my fear.
A remedy held for a bite or a stingβ
I shouldn't abandon so useful a thing.β
He looked to the valley, the memory goneβ
Heβd forgotten the path where the pear tree had shone.
So he knelt by the water, cool, quiet, and deep,
And gathered forty flat stones from the sleep.
He laid down a trail, a light grey ribbon of slate,
Leading back to the thistle, to anchor his fate.
βIf I need the plantβs medicine, the path will be clear;
If I hunger, the stones guide me back to the pear.β
IV. The Wasp, The Wolf, and The Trap
As he walked tiredly up the crumbling slopes,
He heard a soft buzz and in his mind took notes.
He looked across close and saw a sharp wasp:
βIf I get stung now, I'll be utterly lost!β
His gaze grew too narrow, fixed tight on the threat,
And he missed where a hive of sweet honey was set.
Quietly nesting near roots of the trees,
He stepped on the ground and panicked the bees.
Yet he remembered the verse, and checked his broad stride:
βA stance built too wide will be stumbled by pride.β
Eyes half on the wasp floating near to his hair,
He searched through the leaves for a path to a pear.
Then a low, hollow growl echoed out through the skyβ
A hungry wild wolf, with famine in its eye.
Blind to the forest, like a sheep in a pen,
Ignorance makes prey of the strongest of men.
Like a chicken that steps in a cage for the grain,
Or a lamb lured away to be bound in a chain,
The beast moved to strike, but Fido took flight,
Following the pebbles laid out in the light.
V. The Remedy and The Sovereign Win
Down the slate trail he ran, quick as a whistle,
All the way back to the lonely old thistle.
He collapsed by the plant, feeling sharp pain and heat,
From a bee sting now swelling right over his knee.
Beside him he noticed the squirrel lying dead,
And remembered the words that his master had said:
βWhat the enemy fears shows the edge of his bladeβ
Let him fall on your stance, or the price will be paid.β
He crushed up the thistleβboth poison and cureβ
And pressed it right onto the sting to make sure.
Then he looked at the wolf who came skidding to stop,
Standing hungry and fierce at the edge of the drop.
Fido smiled softly, his heart standing still,
No longer the prey on a crumbling hill.
He offered the squirrel as a peaceful reward,
Or laced it with thistle to shatter a sword.
A threat turned to ally, a sting turned to grace,
A lesson extracted in this quiet place.
No weight in his backpack, no anger withinβ
A sovereign resolution: a win-win-win.
VI. The Campfire and The Companion
The shadows grew long as the autumn wind blew,
And the cold evening mist settled over the dew.
Fido struck a small spark by the edge of the stone,
No longer afraid, and no longer alone.
The wolf sat beside him, eyes quiet and clear,
The hunger now gone, and replaced by no fear.
No cage to contain him, no chain on his neck,
Just two living souls who had honoured respect.
Fido looked at the ridge rising high in the night,
And knew that the peak wasn't won in a fight.
The summit is reached not by reaching the top,
But knowing exactly where striving can stop.
Heβd learned when to travel, and how to pack light,
How to keep his gaze wide, and his heart out of fight.
Heβd found the true gap where the storm passes through,
And turned what was hostile to something born new.
With the morningβs first light, down the trail they both ran,
The wolf at the side of a sovereign man.
Back home to the flat, to the work and the grace,
With a light, empty pack and a smile on his face. πππ
