If you’re going to live on a steep hill
you might as well live at the top.
Up there, on all sides
the earth drops away
folds below and goes and goes
billows out before me
in twinkling hills.
They shimmer as the blood
beats behind my eyes
pulse pulsing near the surface.
Flickers tell the tale
of my pounding heart.

If you’re going to live on a steep hill
You’ll need to revise your relationship with gravity
No longer just an anchor,
mundane and convenient
now it’s a gradient
an ingredient
in breathtaking descent
and breathtaking ascent.
Legs pulsing, heart convulsing,
the gaze can’t help but lift.
The mind drifts
to the panorama that waits
up there
Where the world falls away.

To halt
To cling, panting to the side of a slope
that continues on without you
To cease
with body geared for struggle
and the path apparent
To swallow
the hunger for height
every night
despite the appetite
one must ignite
to even begin the fight?
That ain’t right!

The steep hill invites us
to burn and to climb
and once we get going
to leave all behind
In a way, the natural law
switches round
up is down
and the wonder of vistas
has a gravity of its own.

If you’re going to live
on a steep hill
and leave the level world behind
you will find
your heart and mind drawn ever upward,
so climb!
Let your body be relentless
Let the skyline fill your senses
Leave no inch of road untested
And only at the peak
seek rest