Give us Some Higher Mountains

POEM

   Give Us Some Higher Mountains

   Give us some higher mountains,

   some cliffs and falls

   beyond our reach,

   a region too forbidding,

   too unmapped and always,

   always masked in mist,

   with light too luminous for mortal eyes.

   I've seen the row of climbers

   neck to neck

   that wait in line to reach

   our highest peak.

   We've learned too well

   how not to breathe

   the thinner air,

   to follow in the sherpa's steps,

   to reach the summit

   without fail, with eyes

   not clouded over.

   Give us some higher

   mountains soon,

   like Chinese peaks

   in ancient art,

   that tower high above the fray.

   A single summit

   masked in mist.

Herlinde Spahr