My Mountain

My hands are gripping this mountain

My knuckles as white as the drifting above me

Mocking me with their freedom

I feel the itchy, thick rope, the only thing keeping me from plummeting

Into oblivion

Im aware of the whispers around me

Trying to distract me

Waiting for me to slip and join them

Take a break

They say

Aren’t you tired?

Yes, I am tired

Im tired of always living in the shadow of this mountain the never ends

Im tired of the ash-like food down here

That always fails to nourish me

To revive my hollow body

Im tired of being completely aware of where I am

and

How much I hate it here

Can’t I do something about it?!

I climb

I climb my dreaded, lifeless mountain

The uncertainty of the future

Accelerating me forward

Fuling my already adrenaline pumped blood stream

I grunt with each step

One step away from my past

One step closer to my future

A sun beam filters from above

Realisation of how close I am

Hits me so hard I almost topple back down

But I dont

I hold on

I use all the little strength the ash food has given me

Im starving

For fresh, juicy fruit and vegetables

For nuts and berries

For meat and fish

But most of all for the sun

I’ve been so cold

I feel the ice in my veins

I forgot how it feels when the sun kisses my face

When it is able to refill my empty tank with just one beam

So with the sun’s support and encouragement

I climb my mountain of sorrow

My mountain of guilt

Of grief

With a triumphant grin

I slap my hands onto the soft, evergreen grass

I bring up one leg

And then the other

Clean, healthy air causes my shrivelled up lungs to swell

I have tears in my eyes as I squint through the sunlight

The whispers have stopped

Replace by a big, relived sigh

Big enough to knock the leaves off the nearby trees

I run to a tree and pluck an apple off its generous branch

I sink my teeth into its sweet, crisp, red flesh

Juice runs down my arms and from my mouth

I finish my apple

Toss my core over the ledge

And watch it fall down

My mountain of hope