Reaching The Summit

The Summit and the Free-Fall

The sheer rock face like blackboard slate,
no toehold, no place to wait. We drive a stake
into the heart of the mountain, and wonder
if this is a mistake. Loose rocks thunder
beneath where we were. We were faced
this summer with clinging to air and space.
How many of you made a bad decision?
Mountain climbing is about precision,
skill, and practice. But this is free-form
like a tightrope without net. Weather transforms
as you get higher, oxygen lessens, sounds plummet.
Some believed they are done when at the summit.
But I have been where the clouds are
and I have seen where I had been, and how far
we had to come to get here. It is not the challenge,
nor the sight. It is seeing and overcoming balance.