POETS UNITED - CONQUEST

“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” - Edmund Hillary

This week, the Mid-Week Motif in Poets United is “Conquest”. My contribution below:

My memory of the climb is dominated by the bitter cold – more intense and harsh than the inhospitable terrain and the ache in each of my muscle fibres. The tracks narrow, the ice and snow treacherous, each step calculated and deliberate. My breath laboured and each time I raised my eyes to look at the peak beckoning through breaks in the clouds, I wondered whether I would be able to reach that shimmering, bright mountain top high above me or whether I would collapse in a lifeless heap.

Each new mountain that we climb is a new challenge, each new peak that rises up in front of us is a new invitation to conquer its heights. The path to the summit is difficult, the climb is dangerous, the reward seemingly unattainable. And yet we accept the challenge and we choose to climb; why? Because it is there? Because of the hope of fame and glory? Because of the expectations of our peers and friends? No, the need is deeper and more personal. We climb because we must, we climb to conquer our own limitations and to vanquish our own internal demons.

Once at the top, there is the heady feeling of success as one views the earth below as if it were a prize offered on a tray. The mountain has been conquered, the fires within have been extinguished and the yearning quelled.

The road to your heart
Is steep, icy, dangerous;
But bliss its conquest…