POEM - Lead Dog Truths

Last night rain
Left morning clean and clear
A slight chill enough
To soften yesterday's heat
Almost forget the swelter
Hopeful promise for relief
Just enough encouragement
To get me on a morning hike

The old bridge suggested history
An odd stone battlement
Piled on a peaked Gothic arch
Straddling a boulder laden stream
Like a misplaced cathedral window
Living water flowing through
The rest of the forest silent
Deep in reverent observations

I spent my moment of silence
But soon was drawn on
By the path beyond
Promise of something more
Maybe other misplaced monuments
Were waiting to be found
What I found was a mountain
Going ever up
And I the first intruder
At least on this new day
The lead dog
Whose scenery will always change
First along the path
Blazing the way
Until . . . thwat!

What they don't tell in the saying
About being the lead dog
The down side
The drawback
Though your scenery does change
You also get the pleasure
Of eating all the spider webs
Hung with dew
Strewn across the path
By ambitious arachnid
Hoping for small insects
Bombarded this morning
By hulking behemoth
Their long night of work
Obliterated across my face
Engulfing my arms by degrees
Until I am unsure
If it is the incline
Or the webbing
Inhibiting my ascent
Purloining my homecoming
Teaching me an important truth
Second place is ok too