#NaPoWriMo 2024 day thirteen

I
It was always looming in the background,
An unmoving thing
Anchored in my mind’s eye.

II
Base, face, peak—
In the stillness of the mountain
I prepared.

III
The mountain shifted over centuries.
There were so many stories.

IV
A man and a mountain
Can become one.
A woman and a mountain
Can become one.

V
There are choices:
The beauty of shelter
Or the beauty of exposure,
The wind whistling over the mountain
Or through the valley.

VI
Wind howled through the doorway,
Windows rattled.
The shadow of the mountain
Crossed over the threshold.
The light
Swallowed by shadow
Left traces of heat.

VII
O Travellers,
Why do you imagine all you need is time?
Do you not fear the mountain,
How it breaks the feet
Of all those who come to it?

VIII
I know noble ascents
And unanticipated retreats;
But I know, too,
The mountain has secrets
It will not share.

IX
When the mountain is out of sight
Its presence still sets itself
At the edge of your path.

X
At the sight of the mountain
In the half-light,
Even the bravest explorers
Grow faint.

XI
He crossed the Rockies
Under his own power.
Once, he feared
He mistook the shadows
He carried with him
For the weight of the mountains.

XII
The mountain never stops moving.
The mountain is an anchor.

XIII
The wind will always change.
Light would come
And light would go.
The mountain waited.
It would always wait.