"mountain climbers"
[inspired by the video game celeste]
they
tell me
i cannot
climb that
rocky mountain
with its abandoned
city and lonely temple
my own doubt, personified
is tripping my confident hands
the mirror cracks and the rotten glass
shatters on the floor and my worst fears
are given form, chasing me up the summit
as my legs ache and i tell my other half, no
i will climb this mountain and i will win and you will—
and then we fall.
you tell me you were just
afraid for me, for us, and i
well, i understand you so we
take each other’s hands and we climb
hop, skip, jump, and dash up the mountain
and then we reach the summit, and the clouds
are pink and we eat a strawberry from my pocket
and for the first time since we started this journey i—
we are calm. the sun rises from the ground below and
smiling, we begin the trek back down the mountain, back
to home and back to our family and you know
i’m glad i have you, my other half
to tell me to be afraid, as long
as we don’t take the fear
too far, like climbing a
mountain to escape
it. but hey, we
climbed this
one, didn’t
we?
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