Steps

Feel each step.

From your toe to your heel,

feel the way-

the changing of surfaces,

changes the stride of your gate.

The cushion of soft grass,

or the stabbing of a million tiny rocks.

Pressure across the pads of your feet-

shifting, dispersing, stepping,

away and far from one thing, closer to something.

Sometimes it’s uncomfortably cool and disgustingly damp,

sometimes it’s painfully cold,

and sometimes the heat swells the skin.

Though the feet never change, the shoes often do-

As if the shapes, colors, and sizes help redefine who,

it is that’s in them.

Sometimes, there’s are no shoes at all.

Even still we keep walking on forwards, backwards, somewhere.

Sometimes each step’s taken in stinging singles with pain.

Others a vibe so elated we seem to float-

We don’t always know where to lead them-

and it’s not always as much about the physical distance,

as it is about the act of taking a step at all.

Regardless of what we’ve walked away from,

where we started, or where we thought we were headed -

it’s about where we are right now.

Just remembering to feel-

every step, wherever they take us, wherever we are-

because every great journey,

starts with that first step,

but begins with that feeling.