I stand in it's shadow,
the great dark rock.
It looms and towers,
indescribably imposing.
Yet I know I must ascend it,
conquer it for mine own sake.
I begin, first believing it was hopeless.
Tumbling and slipping as I wade through shale
a stone black as soot.
This entire entity stands darker than night,
challenging me.
I will conquer it,
I know that I must.
Eventually I reach a ledge,
I am nearly there.
It seems like decades since I began,
and it very well may have been.
I look back,
become entranced.
What a sight,
so ominous and stark,
I could not look away.
Towards the summit I continued,
unable to turn my head.
It was close though,
I knew it was.
Somehow,
I was awash with foreboding,
wholly unexpectant  of what was before me.
I succeeded however,
but the victory is not real,
not by any means.
In only a few days,
a minutia of time,
it will challenge me again.
A never ending ritual,
wrought by nature.