Shades of Death

Hiked the Shades of Death trail with Keith
2017
With beautiful spring blooming
I walked off memories of an ex love
Then tried cliff diving
Where a sign read no swimming
It was myself with company
And cold lake water thirty feet below

I plunged into the waters below and
I didn't know if it was shallow
Broken bones or worse
There's pain with no effort

Hiked the Shades of Death trail
With Nick and Keith
2018
While the dog I grew up with was dying
We slid down a muddy water stream
And splashed into calm scenery
As still as the algae
I sensed that my surroundings were changing
And high school ended a couple days before

It's so hard to let go
Cause a part of me feels hollow
Letting go is a curse
I felt this pain near Effort

2020
Said another farewell to Keith
Hiked Choke Creek before he left to Cali
Still diving like we had been years before
And as the Shades of Death trail is beat
It's past to me is dying
Though it's memory keeps trying
I don't come back often to visit anymore

So I pull off of 534
Step across the bridge into the hollows
And when I feel the waterfall's breeze
I breathe in the memories

Hello again, my love
Been a while since we talked
How life forces us to move on
I've chew on the thought like gum
Until it turned bitter
Is it a bother to even mention?
Separation will happen
In search for happiness that we're lacking
Yet we try
Even if it's a lie to feel alive
Oh, to feel alive