in Denver
every public school student
goes to Balarat Outdoor Education
in fifth grade

which includes
a night walk down a mountain path
we are meant to walk
alone

when I went
I was afraid of the dark
or the mountain lions
or whatever the dark might have held

my best friend Julia and I decided
that which ever of us went first
would wait on the path
for the other

I don’t remember now
which of us went first
or who waited for whom
but I do remember we kept our word

that we walked
most of that dark stretch
still frightened
together