These Are My JOTtings...

Goethe Stanza: Traversing Tallulah Gorge

We march and march down ev'ry step.

We find the bridge to cross,
and soon thighs quiver ev'ry rep.

The way seems but a loss.


The bridge it moves with each foot fall.

The swaying gives us pause,
but o'er the boards we pass them all.

The way a just, true cause.


Five hundred steps from top to last.

The signs warn all the weak.
All caution to the wind you cast.

Traverse each step you seek.


All sage foreboding we'd express.

Make sure thy shoes be true.
Unfit ones be in deepest mess.

The base step taunts at you.


"You have but come five hundred down."

"Five hundred you have more.
"Surmount the top and win the crown."

"The more you must explore."


We drank our walker's draft to full.

Returned we heads hung low.
The last few steps with mouths of wool.

More water would we know.


One day now hence on stilted legs.

The pain doth shoot and pinch.
Our memories seem bitter dregs.

More walking, it's a cinch!

by Jay O'Toole
on July 9th, 2017