There’s a crystal ball at the top of that mountain.
I’ll race you to it.

Barefoot feet slip-sliding up red silty mud,
toes dodging rocks dodging tree roots
dodging too much thinking
dodging not enough time.
Birds sing encouragement,
But chorus foreboding.



Just my breath and yours behind
Huff puff puff in the hot heavy air
A trickle of sweat down the bumps of my spine
And a shiver to follow, knowing you’re there,
Not so silently stepping in line



Eyes down to the ground then up to the peak
Clouds boiling storm forming
Suggesting immediate retreat
With a sharp crack of thunder and an inaudible repeat
But its answers at the top I seek

Rounding the bend beneath draperies of vines
Past dark caverns of mystery
With echoes of the past, warnings scrawled inside
A thumb-drumming rhythm for those who seek to rhyme

Now grayness turns liquid
And I raise my tired eyes
Remembering the strange TV-static window display on that last plane ride
Mesmerized momentarily by a drone of droplets
succumbing to a gravity-induced demise
And would you look at that? You can’t even see the tears in my eyes

You pause to find shelter but I won’t turn back
Onward and upward and no looking back
Faster now, up a narrower track
Stepping through thorn-berries so blue they look black
More sweetness crushed beneath my sharp toes
With spiking thorns as well, still up I go
To reach the summit imagined so long
Crystal ball promising a revelation song
To the point I might realize I got it all wrong

Suddenly upon spying the place
That promised to outline every event in space
And time
I stop
To look
In front and behind
Realizing now the words to the tune in my mind



There I stand with eyes shut tight
Hands unclenched shoulders upright
Chin to the sun resting behind clouds
Then hesitantly I start singing aloud
A song for none but me to hear
Remembering now what was once so clear
It doesn’t matter where I go from here

And maybe I will sleep tonight
Remembering
The decision I make is always right