Poem: Lightening the Load

Advice where, perhaps none is needed, but this may help anyway.

Lightening the Load He’s learned not to expect     all that much these days     and it doesn’t do a thing     to kill desire,     but cuts way back     on disappointment Overly protective you say,     and flies in the face     of all that stuff he told you     about possibility But he’s not so sure that     that’s the case,     maybe there’s a     middle-ground     where the country’s     not so steep and bumpy It’s a matter of balance,     which is what everyone says     when things     aren’t working out But they work surprisingly well     as a matter of fact,     since he lightened the load     of expectation Let this pack-horse that is him     slow down and breathe a bit,     loosened the cinch     and gave him time to graze Seems he’s willing to go further,     even break to a trot     and gave up kicking, now no longer bites So the lesson, if there is one     is to travel light     and dump off all those     heavy expectations They’re nothing more than rocks     he’s found and there’s     precious little nourishment     or warmth in rocks His curiosity’s a better carrot anyway,     no longer driven,     it follows sights and smells instead,     sometimes listens Strange that for all these years     he never knew freedom     from hauling all that     overloading stuff around

This poem is included in Jim Freeman's poetry collection BROKEN PIECES available here in print or as an e-Book in your favorite formats.