Why They Climbed
To inhale the fragile atmosphere into their systems,
to feel it slithering, coiling
To force an ache into muscles accustomed to sitting
To cling to an unbreathing enormity
To savor the loneliness in touching
rock no hand has yet touched
To love so staggeringly a tower of indifference
To look out at the smallness of a great city
and think that you have found it, founded it
To face your own resistance to descending
Love this poem. Especially
ReplyDelete"To love so staggeringly a tower of indifference" -- this sounds epic, encompasses so much in that once phrase.
And descending...I remember hiking Zion National Park (a few times) and reminding myself the feel of the descent.