Stairway to Heaven
A hike at Comer's Rock
36.7443° N, 81.2362° W
The ascent. Marked by fear; in search of truth on a Sunday morning.
Mourning on this summer day. For what? I am unsure.
I do not know what will greet me at the top, I just know I need to get there.
I follow the steep steps upward; sharp inhales, sharper exhales.
I bite my tongue, just to feel.
I touch moss and timber, whispering holy gospel. Giving thanks. Repentant.
Just a few more steps, and I'll be there:
The vista.
A reminder of who I am, and who I will be.
Man on the mountain.
The bolded words were sourced from random pages of the 1943 novel, Celia's House by D.E. Stevenson.
_________________________
Written for Cendrine's flashku challenge.
Give it a shot, here:
About the Creator
Ashley Lima
I think about writing more than I write, but call myself a writer as opposed to a thinker.
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Comments (13)
Love this, Ashley! The coordinates were such a clever start, and this was such a beautiful and relatable piece with lots of parallels. Great entry to the challenge! 💫👏🏽💞
What a triumphant finish! Well done, Ashley!
Thank you for participating in my challenge! The results are in: https://vocal.media/writers/and-the-winner-of-the-emotional-moment-in-nature-challenge-is. :-)
Superb job Ashley! I’d missed most of these entries so just checking out now.☺️
This is great, Ashley. Could feel everything, you took me right there. Well done!
Wow, I love this so much, Ashley. Tying the ascent into a spiritual experience makes it so much more emotional and important for the reader. "I bite my tongue, just to feel. I touch moss and timber, whispering holy gospel. Giving thanks. Repentant." Again, wow. This reminds me of a few hikes I've done. (I'm in Colorado, so there are many options, endless, it seems, lol.) There's one called Panorama point, where you get to look out from a wooden structure and see, I don’t know how many, different peaks, at least 5. It seems to go on for the entirety of the horizon, all at quite the distance, of course. Your picture of Comer's Peak captures that sense of grandness of the mountains, how majestic and sublime they are, especially in how they make us feel spiritually. We are tiny. Such a great entry into Cendrine's challenge. ❤️❤️👏🏻 PS: I love your pic of the stairway. Gorgeous angle and focal points.
Beautiful work, Ashley! I was just in Acadia last weekend with a college friend doing a short hike like that. The imagery in your work reflected that I think, strenuous but rewarding in the end. :)
This was so poetic and that view is magnificent!
You paint a lovely picture with your words!
Wonderful! Now, we need the source of your seven words. ;-)
Loved that you added the coordinates of the location. Now to find something on the web that can translate them. Lovely poem. I used to live in Colorado, miss the mountains so much.
Liked this interesting short form and especially liked the emotional/aspiriational feel that you created.💙Anneliese
Awesome. Enjoyed this Title fooled me for a moment. Thought you'd done a critique of the TV series.