in tandem

cycling through cycles,
in many times, in many ways,
continually riding,
we hold fast and stay,
hold fast and stay.

feet rested on the tension of two strokes,
circling the momentum of opposites.
joyride tandem turns mental tantrum,
sweat more than joy deposits.

can’t stop or i’ll fall,
left, right, these pedals like robot,
i know too much to not go one more,
even if one more is all i got.

defiant joy and peace,
pedaling the tension is how this works,
terrain and course marked, grief and lament
seem the more natural strokes.

holding fast to the steady handlebars,
head tucked, response to these conditions,
subjecting pedals positioned for hope again,
gratitude to right the momentum.

the world passing under my feet,
desperate for a draft to cut the winds,
can’t look up, blinded by tears come,
crying out to coast, a boost from a tailwind.

once again, a mountain we face,
ascending my muscles find strain, my heart deep ache.
a whispered trace, reminder of my tandem,
you’ve taken this hill, so me it won’t take.

yet out of the saddle again,
straining for progress on path before me,
feeling pulse and lean, fighting the drift,
deeper, higher, inner, please uphold me.

you lift my drooping head,
strengthen a burning thigh.
relying on the one behind i cannot see,
there’s faith in the one passing by.

looking to the one seated,
there’s rest, there’s joy before.
riding the shake-and-steady tension,
finding strength for pedaling once more.

there will be a tremble and wobble ahead,
a training and discipline that does weary,
also hope and love continually,
so what can this hill do to me?

sometimes clouds and rain,
tailwinds behind, headwinds before,
rounding greased chains,
we pedal once more,
yet once more.

**reflections from a reading of hebrews