#7 Advice to a Young Climber by Emma McKervey

Advice to a young climber

If one rocks onto the balls of one’s feet, and hunkers down low,

it is possible to reduce the full electrical shock of a lightning strike.

It is, however, entirely dependent on the force of that strike

and the strength of one’s heart to survive.

Certain knowledge to read the signs of the hills is needed by any wary climber,

who is mindful of their health, to spot the threat of a storm:

the banking of cumulonimbus above the crest should indicate 

it is time to return,to take the downward path, 

to avoid the trees, the caves, the mines,

as those boughs and thresholds can shatter,

splintering to three million pieces about one’s head.

So keep the mass of mountain above oneself,

watch the skies and the rise of the peaks

and head home, head home, head home.