Clasped in a deadlock neither bull could break they bleach beside a frigid Yukon lake amateurs who never locked horns with you. Each year our packs grow heavier and glacial torrents deeper. Cutthroat trout are savvier and switchbacks steeper. We have outgrown our ardor.
Nights are colder, groundbeds harder, and the lovers on the shoulder of the mountain older.
From The Deed of Gift, Story Line Press, 1998. Reprinted by permission of the author and Story Line Press , Ashland, Oregon.