Leaves crunch beneath my feet

My legs feel brittle and incomplete

My back thuds against a wall of rock

As brown as a dock

Stones tilt towards different directions as I step

Taunting to remove any balance I kept

Where are we going? I wonder

My hands cling tightly around my parents’ jackets

Squeezing into them as if they were packets

My ears detect the rushing waterfalls

Splashing and cutting off each others’ calls

My body aches; I must rest…

I must escape from this exhausting test…

Of hiking

Wait, we’re here; back to the car!

After a few hours; we’ve returned from afar!