Rope-Climbing

I feel like life is like climbing a rope...

Burning sweat slides
Across scorn skin
while
Hand over hand
I pull
To what heights I can

Blisters spot rent palms
Where abused calluses
Abused again, scald;
The least of my stresses

With every inch gained
The air thins,
My strength wanes,
My vision swims

But the flames pressing stench
Holds my scattered attention
And forces my dole ascent
Through my sore condition

Licking up the rope,
That propane nightmare
Dispels my hope;
I'll be abandoned mid-air

Beneath the blue sky
Above the red Earth
Within mind, body, and time,
My soul, to suffer dearth

Author's Note

Image: rope_by_wazzasay-d34bzzf