Make to Climb

we make to climb, even as we look
back: at the things we’ve
done, the groundhogs
we’ve killed, the
ones we’ve
missed

we are never as sure-footed as
we are during a chase, we
are never as much
ourselves, we
are never so
found

we may look, but we will never go
back: to re-shake the dead, to
resurrect the feelings we’ve
lost. there is only this
climb and this fugitive
footing, these
short-lived
steps