Conqering Angle's Landing

Another class assignment, this time I was supposed to write about an abstract concept using only concrete descriptions and never the abstract word itself. The example we were given was "write a love poem without using the word love." So I decided to write about fear of heights without using the word fear. Here's the result.

The first miles are easy,
just walking, trudge, trudge, trudge,
uphill all the way on a smooth paved path.

Sun beating down on my head, I notice
the scenery around me.
Green plants against red rock.
Tiny streams in shadowed clefts.
Ferns dangle from cracks in the rock.
Beautiful.

Then I reach the point where things change.
No more paved path slanting gradually up.
Here there is a steep climb, the cliff drops away sheer on both sides.
Tempting the eye to look down.

I cling to the chain that the park employees,
ever helpful,
have bolted to the rock.
It leaves a red imprint on my hands as I inch forward,
hand over hand.

Then the ridge narrows, two cliffs threaten with their depths
closely on either side.
I glance down once and am caught
like a rabbit in the headlights of a car.
Mesmerized by looming destruction.
Far below toy cars drive on a model road next to an ant-sized river.
A falling body would fly freely for a long way before it hit
and bounced and tumbled down to the river.

I am saved by the cheerful babble of a group
of Japanese tourists coming up behind me.

I continue hand over hand and,
at last I reach the top.
No longer needing to watch my feet, I look
out over the world-famous view.
Walls of red, orange and white stone rising.
Decorated with green trees, ferns, mosses.
Roofed over in blue. A mansion fit for a god.

The people who named this place knew that.
Angel’s Landing, Temple of Sinawava, The Great White Throne,
Zion.
The names invoke deity.

I stand alone at the top of the world
till once again the Japanese tourists intrude.

I return now down the cliff-warded trail.
I drag my hand lightly over the chain, just in case.
The red imprints on my hands have faded.

I shout out happy nonsense and the cliffs repeat it back