The Return to Adventure

The Return to Adventure

A bit steep, this climb. Unclimb to land.
Climate untamed, and yet you toil,
We toil, this we of mountaineering,
Spectacular, a macho team.
But tender the inside of teamhood?
This soft and rigorous unclimb, then,
Must travel back to valley level.
No space for comfort as we steel us,
Ourselves, each other, to revisit
The unexamined smooth of being
To climax out the dumbest valley.
We're green enough, though, are we? Does
Our rustle outlast duty's buzz?
Do towns unfriendly, cities hostile,
Bequeath us yet recycle's profile?

On the way back to Hyderabad, 7 November 2001