Trails of Trials

Because we pass this way but once,
However long the years or months,
Better a trail of trials well met,
Victories and friends remembered yet,
And wisdom gathered from gullies steep,
Than all those trinkets some folks keep.

Those I would gamble in a single throw,
What consequence their loss. I’d rather know
That at trails end, is where I find-
Some load made lighter, 
Some wrong made righter,
Some life made brighter-
For having touched with mine.

-Doug Garrett