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 all these years
he never knew freedom
from hauling all that
overloading stuff around