Dreams Of Ascent

(I) I have no mountains to climb to see visionary vistas from its height. High hills, to be sure, abound, take us beyond ourselves, however briefly, but they are not a passageway to transcendence. Their grassy summits do not jut into higher spaces, but cling to planetary surfaces. Mountain are rooted in deep earth but rise high above the surface and achieve those summits, whose towers pierce the realm of the high heavens. (II) Today I climbed, with my younger brother, the highest mountain in this region. The only motive was the wish to see what so great a height had to offer... Then a new idea came to me: I began to think in terms of Time rather than Space... The Ascent of Mount Ventoux,1336, Petrarch The sky that late summer morning was stained with a dull gray blur that would not melt into the surreal brightness just out of sight. So we trudged onward and got exhausted by early afternoon. Our guide, nimble and fleet, laughed at our stumbling gait, and prodded us forward, despite the increased weight we carried with each step upward. We persevered. By mid afternoon, we stood, breathing the shallow air, and looking over both height and abyss. My brother and I congratulated each other, as our guide smiled over us. Then it was time to descend. That night just before sleep, we confided in each other, and discovered we had identical thoughts on the the summit. And we slid home on the same wave of feelings.