Is it a mountain range? I think that’s strange To start in the plains Through the foothills and rains Over streams and lakes to bulky terrains
Up and down, and up a bigger one still It starts as a game, one big thrill The valleys are sweet and the peaks high How high could they get? To the sky? Maybe high enough that you can fly!
What’s on the other side? More plains perhaps? Or maybe an ocean, with breaking white caps? No one’s ever made it so we’ll just have to guess Some say at one point the height is much less But that’s not firsthand information, so I digress
The path is strewn with bodies whose stamina wore out But signs on their necks read, “This is what it’s all about!” You can’t know what that means until it happens to you When you’ve shattered your dreams, and your legs feel it too But you’ll miss these people who tread paths for such few
Perhaps you’ll find where the peaks get a little lower You won’t find it by resting, push on! Upward and over! There’ll be bruises and scratches aplenty for sure For this wondrous disease there is no known cure The majesty of the mountains is a deadly lure
So many have tried to reach the other side They’ve sweat and they’ve bled, they’ve fallen and cried But to stop is to go mad with curiosity and thought About what lays beyond, what the dead have sought So we climb and we climb, even if all for naught
Then we find that perhaps it’s not been worth doing Were it a play we’d probably be booing Then we think of the foothills, of much simpler days When the son shone blinding and we danced in his rays And we wonder if there was a pass we’d missed on our ways
All the while climbing to the end of our days As the sun starts to dim but casts a dark haze And we wished we had enjoyed the peaks Climbing and climbing for thousands of weeks And then a slight rose comes to our cheeks
We lie down for a moment and softly cry Take one final look at the blueblack sky Then sit up straight, nice and stout Confidently moving, no shadows of doubt And don on our necks, “This is what it’s all about!”