a15

An elderly man picked me up 
As I walk’d

Down the pass
Thumb out

His wife & he
Drove to Alaska every year

Tho not since
She been gone

Children nor Grandchildren
Willing to accompany him

He let out 
His lonely tale

Strangers are sometimes 
The safest confidants
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Often I had been that Stranger
Confident in stride

Those in moments of weakness
See this & bear their sadness upon me

Sad tales & horrific scenes
Help’n them bear burdens
That can never be forgotten

Whether subject to the 
Horrors of poverty in Mexico
Or here in the States
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Everyone look'd at me 
With disbelief

I stuffed
$100 worth of $3 goods
Into my small pack
On a bench at Walmart

I had to walk nearly 2mi
Before a truck
Went into the parking lot
Enthusiastically honk’n
 Its horn

The omnipresent 
Encouragement of locals

Around where the 
Appalachian bears it course

Is
Phenomenal & Unparalleled
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At the summit of
Tray Mtn

A group in kilts
Informed me

I missed a note
Bathsalts & DHB wrote

Despite my full pack
I made the 13mi
Still to go

Friendship is rare
I live a lonely life
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Tomorrow 
I would reach North Carolina
Nothing could change that fact
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