I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

9 November 2013

Andrew’s Mt Warning Climb

When I went up the mountain,
I took it slow.
My wife was away.
I knew she wanted to climb it too
but I heard a friend was going up
with her two little kids.
I grabbed my chance.
They, I thought, would surely
take an easy pace.

The friend had done her research,
told me what to wear,
and what to bring
in the way of food and water.
We started nice and early.

The way up was easy enough. 
We didn't rush.
Only the last part,
steep, with a chain,
was a challenge —
but if they could do it, I could.
And we did.

Not much view from the top.
There was mist.
This is a mountain
often surrounded by cloud.
But I was glad I got there.
It was the achievement,
something to cross off my list
of things to do while I still had life.

And you know, if I'd waited,
I might never have done it.
My wife never did.
The time was not quite right
or she was too busy, or ...
and one day she realised
she was too old, too arthritic,
she'd missed her opportunity.

Coming down was the real challenge.
Hard on the old legs.
Before we were even half way,
my thighs had turned to jelly.
The others were feeling it too.
I suppose we should have trained
before we did it, but oh well,
we did get down eventually.
It was already getting dark.


Poetic Asides November Poem A Day Chapbook Challenge: Write about visiting a place, from someone else's perspective.

(I feel this is a pretty bad first draft but, with a busy week ahead, I must press on. It'll have to do for now.)

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