Some say the pursuit <br />is too dangerous <br />and too arduous <br />for one so old <br /> <br />And yet, even <br />at night <br />the icy slopes <br />shine <br /> <br />and tell me <br />the mountain <br />has a heart <br /> <br />so I feel <br />for the foothold, <br />tenuous <br />amid the <br />crags <br /> <br />though in a moment <br />this complexity <br />can shrug me <br />to ice fields <br />below. <br /> <br />Sometimes I ask <br />'Why has my mountain <br />hidden her heart? <br /> <br />Has her heart been wounded? <br /> <br />Is her heart distant only <br />to make mine stronger? <br /> <br />Or is peril <br />her way of knowing <br />only the worthy <br />will arrive.' <br /> <br />I have seen the warm tidal pools <br />by the shore <br /> <br />And I have seen the heart of <br />a meadow pulse in the spring <br /> <br />And these are beautiful. <br /> <br />Yet, it is the hidden mountain <br />heart that draws me <br /> <br />For I know it is there <br /> <br />And feel it in the rush of mountain streams, <br /> <br />And hear it in the echo of hidden valleys, <br /> <br /> <br />And imagine, perhaps, over this cold ledge <br /> <br /> <br />or beyond this pack of ice <br /> <br />It will be there <br /> <br />most beautiful because <br />it has been hidden <br /> <br />and most warm, <br />because it embraces <br /> <br />after the coldness of the climb.<br /><br />Dennis Lambert<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/mountain-climber/
