Height

I don’t know how high up I am,

I always thought I was like you,

Unable to kick my feet from the ground.

All I know is it’s cold and steep,

People here need to be tenacious.

There are those who give up halfway,

Those who see the edge as the end,

Those who feel powerless,

Those who look on with contempt.

Those few with vision who say, “I’m going there,”

Take a deep breath, inch forward step by step,

Until we're together, amid the same landscape,

Until we're together, tearfully lamenting life on high.

I want to tell you, I don't know how high up I am,

Like you, my feet are planted on the ground.  

But I often gaze into the void,

And I see I am merely dust in the universe,

My body on a journey, in a dream.

Together we are stargazers,

Understanding we're simply children of the universe, 

And life is a realization of others' dreams.

Height is submission, height is awe, height is the river of life.

May 15 2013, a flight in the Nepalese Himalayas