Possibilities

We get excited
by the premise.
We discover the chill
that runs through us,
watching the hair
on our skin
rise in anticipation.
We imagine
our lives
becoming everything
we imagine.
We envision
reaching the peak,
looking over
the vastness
we so desperately envisioned
as we climbed.

Nothing
can be in our way.
We go boldly.
We defy convention.
In fact,
convention is our enemy.
We love our existence
outside the box.
Our only focus
is that peak above,
the omnipresent image
that grows as we climb.

We pretend to hate
the obstacles in our way.
We battle fiercely
with all that defies our climb.
We become
so focused
on that fight
we suddenly
do not
avoid the obstacles.
We now
seek them out,
one-by-one...
and seek to
obliterate each.
We pretend to act
proactively.
We see each fight
each disembowelment
of our foes
as prevention
when in fact,
we have sought it out.
Suddenly,
the peak above
hides in the clouds
of our savage attacks.

The ghost
of our dreams
haunts us still,
yet we battle our foes,
those things
that would stop us
from reaching the top.
We fight with
every ounce
of our being,
so as to pursue
the happiness
at the peak,
the happiness
we so
desperately seek.

We pretend
we still see
our destination,
as we rip the limbs
from our foes.

Each new day
finds another foe,
and rather than flee
we fight.
Rather than seek
another path
to the top,
we engage.

We begin to fall,
yet we think
we still ascend.
We fight on,
pretending to vanquish
those things,
those beings,
those savage impediments
that defy our climb.

We wrestle and roll
downward still
as the clouds of anger
thicken above.

And yet.
If we were
to ever
reach the peak,
the emptiness
and loneliness
at the top,
makes us long for
the climb.

We would
find ourselves
wishing that
rather than
fighting and defying
as we rose higher
and fell farther,

that instead

we avoided
those things
that stood in our way,
found the other path,
looked out
at the clearing skies
and let gravity be
our only foe.

We would then discover
the joy
of reaching the top
could only come from
the joy
of making the climb.

Our possibilities
were never at the peak,
it seems they
were always there.