Bullets beget bullets
Bombs beget bombs
Winter is never over
Climbing higher
Mount Certainty

Reaching out for purer air
Tree line blurred in the distance
Pausing only to rest on laurels
Looking down on tranquil canyons
Echoed sensibilities offend
Uninterrupted by sacrifice

To be this high
To have this view
Stubborn knuckles hardened further
Grander heavens scaled faster still
No ropes
Support not needed
This is too noble a pursuit

Frigid cold won’t temper valor
Lunge or lurch
Never vacillate

Upon the summit reached
Horizon now among the conquered
Triumph nurtures tepid colors
Yet breath evades its sacred duty
Emptiness gasps in silence
Perdition prepared no pathway down
Righteousness a lonely virtue
Peace so violently achieved

Sun sets a fleeting moment
Darkness subdues restful hues
Bullets beget bullets
Bombs beget bombs

Mount Certainty
Atop its peak

Winter is never over

Written October 2014 in Denver, Colorado