In gratitude, to those who've gone before

There's a thin gray line
between now and then,
but never fear:
if you need to climb
there is a rope;
a way to get from here to there
without climbing the walls.
And when I see that metal loop --
that yellow rope suspended there --
I think of all the climbers past
who've been this route before
and left their pitons hanging there,
embedded in the cliff
to help the climbers yet to come
and marvel at their generosity:
could I have been that brave?


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