Summer’s here and we can hike the peaks again,
have lunch and tea on mountaintops, look down
on the backs of circling hawks and laze away
the afternoon watching blue-hazy, distant hills.
Come on! Give up those winter blues. Let’s go!
Grease up those boots, find that walking stick.
Get your lungs and legs in shape. And don’t forget
what Yuan Mei, said, two hundred years ago:
If you begrudge your feet some pain
you’ll miss ten thousand peaks.
This article appears in Jul 20-26, 2005.
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