The Reach

Hand over hand

a dirt stained body rises.

Hand over hand

clinging to the coarse woven fibers;

Skin burning with every red inch.

Moment by moment giving up

and holding on.

Hand over hand, rising above the canopy.

inch by inch into daylight;
The breath a chant, a prayer and plea.

The expansive sky in defiance

of everything once believed to be closed.

Terns drift by on their long migration.
To the endless world, the climber offers a small cry

merging in a wild chorus with every pitch.