Because They Are There

Come on a journey with me

Travel life’s weary road will we
From eagle heights to the earth below
Where man doth sorrowfully go

We find ourselves staring up mountains
Some scared, some meek, some defiant
We feel a shrinking inside
As we face this mountain that doth arise

Tis’ three things we can do
We can run around, go up, or tunnel through
Some harder, some easy, but please,
Be careful, the choices made with ease.

Cause these mountains, they big
These mountains make our hearts sink
Most days, we want to run away
We think that we’ll live to fight another day

So we spend our time, tunnelling through
Giving the effort without the view
Or we try to run around, taking detours
Till surrounded by mountains, we’re finally caught

One must finally face a climb, if he wants to move on
Of life in the valley, one must never grow fond
Because we will never survive the dark and gloom.
Every valley, eventually will bring our doom

But in the end, the real reason that we climb
Is to just a glimpse perhaps find
Of what we were made for, a paradise we lost
That’s why we climb, no matter the cost

We stumble, crawl, and fight our way up
By rocks our hands and feet are cut
Our blood soaks into the stone
And at times we lie in a ditch, crying alone

But our password’s ‘victory’ and we will fight
All throughout the day, and into the cold night
Ever will we say die? No! Never!
We will never say die ever!

We will go until there’s no more to climb
We will push, until we have crossed the line
Till we reach the pinnacle, till we raise our hands
Till we are crowned, the conquering man

At the mountaintop, we find traces of glory
The remnants of a fairy-tale’s story
From there we see where none have been
We see the greater goal we want to achieve

Let the chill run through our bones
Let the brave venture on alone
Some go round mountains because they’re there
The brave climb them because they are there!

 

Story behind the poem:

This poem came from a quote I read: A mountain climber was once asked, why did he climb mountains. His answer was, “Because they’re there.” The reply was: “That’s the exact reason everyone goes around them!”

In life, we come across mountains. They are challenges that face us. Often we want to go the easy way, but eventually, we will find ourselves stuck. We have to climb if we want to move on. We are living in a world that is marred, and deep inside, we long for something perfect, something glorious, something beyond words. If we stay in the valley, we will die, because that’s not where we belong. We have to keep pushing on, and at each mountaintop, we sometimes catch a glimpse of the the paradise that we are searching for. If we follow the right road, somewhere, beyond the mountains, we will find our home.

GZ