Before

I could feel my fever rising.
My head was screaming,
and I was freezing-
despite global warming.

Sharp sheets of rain
swept through my fuzzy brain,
with a little picture of everything.

Between

Perhaps it was the fever.
Perhaps it was the mist.
But it felt surreal to be on cloud nine,
above the World’s awesome alpines.

Beyond

I had never seen the northern lights.
I had never seen glacial ice.
I had never seen trees climb so tall.

Traveling to foreign soil
at the beginning of a magical fall
was beyond my dreamworld’s call.
My weary heart and soul
were molded into a super ball.

Editor: Erynn Crittenden