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December 2, 2010

John Muir on Mt. Ritter

After scanning its face again and again,
I began to scale it, picking my holds
With intense caution. About half-way
To the top, I was suddenly brought to
A dead stop, with arms outspread
Clinging close to the face of the rock
Unable to move hand or foot
Either up or down. My doom
Appeared fixed. I MUST fall.
There would be a moment of
Bewilderment, and then,
A lifeless rumble down the cliff
To the glacier below.
My mind seemed to fill with a
Stifling smoke. This terrible eclipse
Lasted only a moment, when life blazed
Forth again with preternatural clearness.
I seemed suddenly to become possessed
Of a new sense. My trembling muscles
Became firm again, every rift and flaw in
The rock was seen as through a microscope,
My limbs moved with a positiveness and precision
With which I seemed to have
Nothing at all to do.

- Gary Snyder

Posted by Vanderleun at December 2, 2010 4:32 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

Pity he didn't fall off the f***ing mountain. Would have spared us some lame imitation poetry.

Posted by: Fat Man at December 3, 2010 9:14 AM

His blather makes a molehill out of a mountain.

Posted by: Blastineau at December 3, 2010 9:25 AM

Hey, don't blame Muir for the sins of Snyder. And I can relate to the experience. If you have never had a blackout during a crisis when some primordial layer of the mind kicks out the blithering idiot that is consciousness and takes over you might not appreciate Muir's experience.

Posted by: chuck at December 3, 2010 8:35 PM

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