The High Country

I haven't hiked the high ground
or picked a flower there,
but I've seen them pressed in books;
their blood stained pages show
another world of wild flowers
than you and I can't know.

Still, I think they should suffice,
these hills we have at hand,
as long as we can climb them,
though up and down we go,
and pick a simple flower
the high ground doesn't grow.


(The Sentinel-Record, Hot Springs, AR., April 20, 1985)