You were used to the certainty of your body, of your daily ten-mile run. You never doubted you could hike ten miles in a day. That morning, the canyon walls rippled with bands of sunlit color. You’d never known such heat. You’d never have believed it could stop your heart.

Jennifer L Freed is author of When Light Shifts, a memoir-in-poems about the aftermath of her mother’s cerebral hemorrhage. This story was inspired by her recent visit to the Grand Canyon and a news item about the number of deaths there this year. Please visit jfreed.weebly.com to learn more.