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[at-l] To the Class of '97

I'd like to offer some purely personal thoughts and well wishes to the
Class of '97. Almost every time I hike I remind myself that I am not the
first to walk the trails. I and we, are the beneficiaries of many who
have gone before us. More importantly we are now the vanguard of the
Trail's future. The AT will have a good future if we are as vigilant as
those before us. For those who wanted to thru hike but had their chance
taken from them, for those who will want to thru hike but their chance
has not yet come, I make this request: Protect the Trail, nurture the
magic, and by all means have the time of your lives!!  Good luck and
happy trails.  Hopeful    GA>ME in 2002

p.s. I give this poem to the Class of '97 in memory of some friends who
never got their chance to thru hike.

Mantle Of The Past


There is a mantle of the past
On every hiker's shoulders draped,
An oath to take and bear out,
A legacy in glory caped.

A mantle sewn,  a Trail the thread,
A fabric, a misty blessed sail,
A place to start and give high birth
To the magic of the Trail.

Not barbed tipped tongue or poisoned lips
Nor of grasping clutch or evil scorn,
>From opened hands and opened hearts,
Of selfless souls is magic born.

Of dreamers' dreams in the long past,
MacKaye, Shaffer names hailed by many.
Of young men unknown, wrongly dead,
My soul mates John, Dave and Benny.

Our Trail! Their gift, our place to guard
>From careless hand and avarice eye,
Our own pride, our miotic view,
So many foes in snare-watch lie!

Our Spirit! Their mantle, let us
On Springer or Katahdin's crown,
Living life, bear them forth to dreams
and memories they never found.

Their Dreams! Thirty years unfulfilled,
To hike in misted palaces high.
Oh, let us join their spirit trek
As our Path bears us near the sky.

So bear it long and bear it well
And bear it joyously, this Class.
And forever remembering
There is a mantle from the past.
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