Landscape, Olympus OM-2, Poetry
by Patrick Jennings

Fearless

The highway between Liuyuanzhen and Hami, Gansu Province and Xinjiang Autonomous Region, The Peoples Republic of China
Fearless
I would fail less
Or more

I would never fail
For fear of trying
I would fail
For reaching further
Than I could grasp

But why would I reach there
If reaching seemed no great risk
For what is risk but a measure of fear
And of what value would be
Anything that I grasped

Unburdened by fear
Triumph would lose the edge
Of conquering fear

Fear is the boundary
I am always extending
It is the voice
Guiding my way
To my next triumph
Or my next failure
But that is the nature
Of challenge

Is there challenge
Without fear?

Between Liuyuanzhen and Hami
Gansu Province, The People’s Republic of China

Taken during travels, 1998

Just to set the context of this image:

In 1998 I bicycled the width of China, 6,000 kilometers (3,800 miles) in a bit over 6 months. About half that distance crossing desert, and 2,000 kilometers of that riding solo, beginning with this 300 kilometer (200 mile) stretch of nothingness separating the desert towns of Liuyuanzhen and Hami. Two days of bicycling without water access or shelter, but for what I carried with me.

Thanks to the Daily Prompt for Fearless Fantasies, which entirely inspired this post.