the Turn

We were walking with traffic, as a bike would, on an inside bank with no edge. We were rolling in the ditch when, at the sharpest part of the turn was a washed out portion of roadway, a bush to the edge of the white line and a reflective four foot high metal marker. Cars and truck blasted by in both directions, the noise from them all powering around this steep banked turn was tremendous. I stopped just feet from the obstacle I stopped to gather my senses. Next to my face, poking through the thick dark hedge was a vine's flower. I had to pause and get a picture with my phone. As I snapped I was reminded of a story. A man was walking in the jungle when he came upon a tiger who chased him to a cliff. His only escape was to climb down a vine over the edge. Once there he could not climb all the way down because at the bottom waited another hungry tiger. Then a mouse came along and began to nibble at a sweet spot on the vine that he held onto with both hands. Weakening he noticed a beautiful strawberry just few feet away. The most succulent fruit he had ever seen. "If I could just have a taste" he said to himself...


The road was then silent. I passed the turn alive and well.