The ascent: sweaty and tiring

Grab trees to pull myself up

Frequent stops to catch my breath

Swig water, feel the mountain breeze

Where is the summit?

I long for the top

Views, the rest, the silence, the peace

 

Step by step, break by break

Swig by swig, tree by tree

How did all this rock rise

To puncture the sky?

The mountain slowly surrenders

I look up and see light

In the under story of forest

I’m close, I know I’m close

The mountain starts to level off

 

Breakout into overexposed gray rock

Relief, joy, vastness at my feet

A landslide of vistas and panoramas

I memorize the shadows

The mountains overshadowed

By mountains further off

Rounded summits far away

The sound of wind in the pines

I sit on a fissure with moss, an ant

I suck drafts of open space

Don’t let this end

Tom Stock