Planning for Time

Along the path back
I met two hikers
a man and a woman
hand in hand
with two IVs dangling
from their free arms.

I spoke with them about the climb.
Satisfied, they turned to each other.

The woman, who called herself Loso
was impatient to reach the top
to see the sun rise.

I had not seen it myself
but it would take far longer —
more than the 15 minutes
she thought it took
to reach the peak.

The sky was already lightening.
Sunrise had come and gone
while we conversed;
now it was white.

Only I noticed.

I apologized for how long
I had kept them,
not feeling sorry for
the extra minutes that wouldn’t
have made a difference.

I was sorry that
it was too late —

They hurried off.

Writer’s Note: This was an actual dream I had two days ago.

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