You approach it,
what you're climbing.
Whether it may be
a mountain
or something personal.
You take a breath.
Not much fresh air
is still there
at the bottom.
You reach up
and grasp something.
The opportunity to climb higher,
the opportunity you need,
the opportunity you take
to give yourself that first boost.
The begining is easy
and when you look down,
the ground seems close enough.
You can hear your family and friends
cheering you on.
“You can do it!”
“Keep going!”
“You're almost there!”
But after a while
the cheering fades
to a dull squeak
barely audible at your height.
You are almost there.
Then comes the hauntress
the exhaustion you feel.
First in your arms
then your legs
lastly, your mind.
You grow weak.
You slip.
The free fall that follows
muddles your mind.
You cant breathe
you cant think
you cannot control
what will happen next.
The feeling of success
fills your mind
The success is
the bounty that this climb
is all about.
You breathe.
You think.
You control.
You grab.
And you hold on
for dear life.
You look down.
You're still at the place
the place where you fell.
Nothing has changed but you.
You now stabalize yourself.
When you're ready,
you look up.
The rest of the journey
seems more difficult
than it already is.
But you steel yourself.
You breathe again.
Begining your climb another time
will be the hardest part.
For once, you truly look around you.
You are not alone.
There are others.
There is also beauty,
hidden beauty,
rythyms long forgotten.
But you remember.
And you channel them
to aide you
guide you
save you.
And in the end you meet
the ones that you left
in the stale air
of the bottom of that mountain.
But here the air
is fresh, clean, and new.
You are overjoyed to be
done, finished with that old "mountain"
For now you realize, that it
was just a hill....

~not the whole poem. it was too long~