Ascension

There's a man out there
who wishes to overcome
every wall in the world.

Not the metaphorical ones,
those are too tedious
for even the seasoned explorer,

This mortal yearns
to grab, inch and crawl
up till the top of every rock.

He says he knows
it's his life and purpose
to scale surfaces
till gravity embraces him.

But does he not understand
that even if he lives climbing
he will probably die falling,
not doing what he loves?

I wonder if there is greater truth
behind this vertically inclined man.
If his madness for mountains
can help me understand.

About the common question
we sooner or later raise,
whether in halls of stone
or by our fathers graves.

What is the purpose of this
fleeting existence?
When all that is made will end
and all this has come only to go?

Is it to blindly keep climbing
till the unseen zenith?
Hoping to find a meaning
by giving society the slip?

But seeing the man rise
with edge of nail and tip of toe
I get a sense of his reason.

Of why he could never
stay down below.

I see his gamble with the forces
his fight with humanity's pull.
I think I feel his paces
and he isn't as much a fool.

I guess we all live climbing,
whether a ladder or a wall.
The trick that I can see,
is to beat your fear of falling
or you won't be able
to climb at all.