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Have you ever donned dry socks
At the start of some new day,
Then found that there’s a stream to wade
Not eighty yards away?
Or coaxed a fire to blazing point
While snow lay all about,
For some fool to spill a billy on
And all but put it out?
Have you ever lent your axe –
‘Here, treat it as your own!
And then had it brought back to you
Sharpened on a stone?
Or securely tied your tent ropes,
Although you’re feeling beat,
Just to have the whole lot torn out
By a pair of lumbering feet?
Or carried eggs for miles to make
A meal with some finesse,
Just to find that they have broken
To a horrid gooey mess?
Or cried “Enough” on some steep slope,
But the leader says “Persist,”
And when you stagger to the top
There’s nought to see but mist?
Have you ever left your boots outside.
For all day long it’s poured,
Just to wake up in the morning
When they’ve frozen like a board?
Or left your billy, plates and such,
All neat upon the ground,
And a hurricane in the night
Prevents them being found?
Have you ever walked in brand new boots.
Looking very neat,
And sprouted crops of blisters
Till you cannot see your feet?
If all these things you’ve done, my friend,
No need to scream and shout,
For you’re a seasoned walker,
Of that there is no doubt!
Peter Fleming
“NBC”
July 1970
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