Failure? Or Freedom.

Seven letters apiece

Each sharing the same start

Easy to mistake

“Getting ready for the AT!” someone shouts with a pumped fist as l wobble by

OOF knife in the kidney

How could he know

Ask anyone whose condition can't be seen

Let it go or break his heart and tell him I'm a crip

Recall my days on the AT’s Bigelow Range

OOF knife in the heart

Those days are gone

I mourn them

I miss them

And, I roll with it

I did that thing

Once

A lifetime ago

These sticks were Freedom then

These sticks are Freedom now