Young Writers Project is a creative online community of teen writers, photographers, and artists, based in Vermont since 2006. Each week, VTDigger features the writing and art of young Vermonters who publish their work on youngwritersproject.org, a free, interactive website for youth 12-18 years old. To find out more, visit youngwritersproject.org, or contact Executive Director Susan Reid at sreid@youngwritersproject.org; 802-324-9538.
While the view from the mountaintop is breathtaking, it’s often the rigorous physical demands of the hike leading you there that color the landscape most — life’s not about the destination but the journey, after all. This week’s featured poet, Anna Dauerman of Shelburne, considers whether the well-traveled yet treacherous path she’s climbing is worth that shared experience with others, or if a mellower trail might offer a better glimpse into the future she seeks.
Endless journey
By Anna Dauerman, 15, of Shelburne
Step after step,
I carry myself forward up a hike with no view.
No moment of relief from gazing out into the depths of the evergreens
while listening to the chirping birds
and taking in the smell of the crisp air.
I’ve been climbing and climbing,
and each day I get a tiny bit higher.
But the mud is dragging my feet,
the rocks are getting steeper,
and I am losing hope in a battle with no way to win.
Each time I get to a lookout, I get a rush of motivation,
just to start from rock-bottom when I realize there’s always more.
Always more to do.
Always a way to keep climbing higher.
I’m making excuses, of course.
“The conditions are fine!” they say,
but then why am I still climbing?
Why am I fighting to keep up with others
when I may just be on the wrong path?
One day I will walk down this mountain.
I will stop trying to reach an impossible summit,
and I will find a journey that doesn’t need an end.
