PART FOUR
Saying good-bye
To the village
The people and children
The old man
The statue
Searching statue and the house
The mountain valley
Teeming with life,
We left
Traveling again
Upon a mountain path
We passed many weeks
Ridging ridges of lesser mountains
The way was very long,
Many moons
Streaming beams upon the mountains
Rose and set
Many suns
Shining life upon the woods
Many ponds
Holding mountain water
Relinquished our thirst
Many were the creatures
That watched our travel
Many were the songs
For birds to sing
Many were the logs
To stay our path
And many the bounds
To cross
Many were our talks
And many our smiles
In the living woods
Before we came
To the mighty mountain—
Looming,
A dwarfing sight
We began the ascent
On the mountain
And after several days were gone,
Gone were the flowers
And mountain meadows
The way became steep—
Steeping
Inclining climbing
And cold
On and on
Step after step
And gone
Were the ponds
The brooks
Streams under glaciers of ice
Under snow
Cold cold
Dull dulling snow,
Continuing
We trekked up
Upon
The frozen path
Gone was the path of brown
Of the earth brown ground
High and higher
Day after day
And gone were the trees
Dull snow
Cold cold
Biting bitter snow
The wind—
So mild on the plain—
Became harsh
And cruel
The times
Were frequent
When
I wanted to go back
But up
We climbed
And on
Upon the steeping path
Fingers became numb
And toes and feet
And hands
Climbing
On a snow cold mountain
Still
As I watched
The lady
The white white silk
Upon the white snow
Was never stiff nor cold
Always flowing
Gently,
Smoothly
Onward up
The cold
Had no effect
But eyelashes and brows
Freezing stiff;
Upon my nose
The white frost
My ears would hardly bend
Above us
Not far
We would reach an endless layer of clouds
Grey dull clouds
Forecasting monotony
And reaching
All directions
From sight
"Wind
Painful wind,"
I whispered
Attempting to shout over its continual roaring
While breathing in
Thin and rapid
The mountain air
"Blow away these clouds
Let the sunshine
Shine—
Shine through"
I crept on
Up the wind biting
Frozen path
The snow
Was cold—
Whipping in the wind
Hordes of dull crystals
Stinging
Whipping and swirling
On and on
Monotonously boring
Swirling and swirling and swirling
Monotonously swirling
Drowsy
Drowsing snow
As we came closer
To the clouds
The wind
Died down
And finally
Was gone
We reached the clouds
And entering
She was in the lead
As we passed through
The soft misty door
The clouds were thick
The cold was hypnotizing
Becoming warm
Every step foreverness
"Only to rest,"
I thought
And resisting not,
"Resting
Lying down
For only a moment
Perhaps to sleep
A short short nap
So drowsy
So drowsy
The snow is warm
In a warm warm sle. . ."
I was lying on the mountain
In the clouds
A lump being covered
By a warm, cold blanket
Of snow—
Waiting for
Foreverness to fold upon me—
Waiting the wait of eternal weight
To start again
To search for the sun
Another time
Another way
Another place
But out
Of the grey dark
A hand-
Gliding, reaching
Touched my shoulder
Warmth surged my body
I rose
From the path
And moved on
Fingers and toes
Warm
Bending ears
Rose colored nose
And plodding feet
Still
Upon the snow
Finally
To—
Through the top
And the clouds below
The cold was still harsh,
Biting,
But not so bad
And we continued on
Climbing further up,
Looking back
We looked upon
An ocean of white capped billows,
And the world below,
The sun splashing rays
Streaming upon a sea of clouds
"How bright
The glistening snow"
Far off—to the left
And hanging from cliffs—
Icicles
Colorful icicles
Sending
From the sun
Fracting rays of color
Millions and millions of rays
Forming colors
To paint the mountain
All colors
Of the spectrum
Steeping up
We stepped on
On toward the sun
The bright, cold sphere
Traveling
Still
And the way was not easy
Slipping and sliding
And climbing again
To slip some more
But we continued on
Toward the end
Of the day—
A day
Monotonous and cold
As all the days
And looking ahead
I saw
The trail—ending
In anticipation
I searched
For the cave
Looking
Straining
Without success
"Where is the cave?"
I asked
Calmly
She said
It was further ahead
So
I plodded on
To the end
&n
bsp; Of the path
And
We moved on,
But I
And hands
On burning cold rocks
An snow
And ice
"Slipping now
Would bring down doom"
I noticed
Looking back
"How well
She has said it"
I thought
"'How high
How long the climb
And oh to slip;
To woe
To cry
To die'"
I forced myself
Forward
Up
Straining over ledges
Struggling
Pushing feet
And pulling hands
Breathing hard
Thin and cold the air
Weary days and tired body
We climbed another day
Upon the mountain
Finding
Small nooks for rest
And climbing on
But came the day
Finally
When she took my arm
And pointing
Indicating
Not far above was the cave
I quickened my climb
And
Before long
We came to the entrance
Dark
And frozen
Dreary
I lit a candle,
Small light
Forming shadows
As we entered
Hand in hand
A hundred paces
At the end
Of the cave
On a rock
Old and weathered—
The lady watched
As I reached for the book—
And then I saw it
I should-
Would have seen it
Sooner,
If not for the book,
Carved in the wall
Above the book
In large bold letters
A word
Merely a word:
INFINITY
Merely a word
But enough
Recalling the past
To the present
The voice
"You would follow be
To the end of forever"
I thought
As I continued
To look at the word
But wait!
Weight
Like the placid winds
Whispering secrets to a sailing dove—
The silent voice of Ad Infinitum
Hear it—"