Sunlight stretches over
Slabs of stone sitting
Under a clear sky in
Summer, when pines have been
Joined by other deciduous
Trees and when clouds scatter
In favor of the
Emptiness of Blue
That paints the sky in its
Delicate hue.
Surrounded by mountains
Which they once called home
A father and son walk into
The brush that frames a
Haphazard collection of
Boulders nestled
In the Sierra Nevadas
Overlooking
The Lake.
Trailing behind them are
Two children—my brother
And I—young, eyes filled with
Wonder, hearts buoyed by the
Beauty of the mountains,
Feet light as feathers
In our shoes, as we follow
Our father and grandfather.
We stop between two large
Rocks; my father and grandfather,
Men tough as the boulders which
Frame them, stop to climb
And tell us—us careless creatures—
To wander, to explore
The vast emptiness, where
The only sound is wind hissing
Through firs across the ground.
My brother and I,
As if invincible, chase each other
Into the trees behind the twin boulders,
Leaving my father and grandfather
Behind
As we weave our way
Between pines
And begin
To hike into the heavens
Up a weatherbeaten trail
Strewn with brush and logs.
We laugh, chase each other,
Sister and brother,
Dreaming to flit like birds
Tree to tree
Flying, flying!
There—can’t you see?
Higher and higher we climb
(Or fly)
Until we—
Stop.
Confronted by a gap between
The crag we stand on and the
Rest of the trail
Beyond.
Five feet dividing us from
Our flight path. And so—
I decide
To jump
Until my brother’s
Whimpers pull my
Flighty feet
From the edge and he says,
“Look down.”
Forty feet below my toes
My father and grandfather climb between
Two boulders,
Specks—as if ants, blots in my vision.
My eyes grow wide—I can hear my heartbeat
In my ears my thoughts mash together and then
Me and my brother are
Falling.
Tumbling over each other,
Back from the ledge,
Like dominoes.
We race back down the trail
The way we flew,
Heartbeats thudding in our frail chests,
Feet fleeing from the fearlessness
We once knew.
We fall from flight into panic
Thoughts buzz and ring in our ears
As we weigh ourselves
Back to Reality.
Soon, we fall into my father’s view—
Standing clueless and
Unaware that his children
Just fell
From their greatest height
Of courage
By not falling
At all.
Photo Credit: Tracy Zarubin
