Lost on an Afternoon Hike

Lost on an Afternoon Hike

Lips chap,
overexposed
in unrelenting sun.
We strain to follow faint markers
of trails

nature's
weed erasers
have hidden under brush—
reclaiming what man has tamed from
the wild.

Hunger
rumbles inside
our bellies; we dream roasts
seasoned with sage, oregano
and thyme.

Feral
screams of cougars
stalk us as the heat cooks
silence in those last steps before
dinner.