For The Rest of us

There is, within each day, 
a moment held in contrast to unoccupied space, 
giving our life the emptiness 
which no one notices, 


the edge which describes 
what it was about her
you remembered, what it was you forgot, 
what it was you searched for 
and that you reached for and held. 


For the rest of us it defined our nature 
and kept from us
the reflection through those phases or promises
or gifts of open air.


For the rest it yielded sustenance
and matter, 

sounds from under the freeway

or along the river bank, 

aside from light, 

Outside stillness. 

-Mike Hiler

Pacific Crest Trail


You can not imagine the weight
of the World, 
but I have
carried it over this mountain
in my pack.


And banding against the solid 
footing of the Universe
felt it turn there on my back. 


It turns within you also. 

-Mike Hiler