Life #10: Social Contemplation
I am planning to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa at the end of July. While I have contemplated this trek for some time, this chapter captures my thoughts and anxieties as this amazing trip moves closer to reality.
From the African plains, it pierces the sky
Five thousand eight hundred and ninety metres high
Tall in elevation
Long in contemplation
Hoping to scale it, at the end of July
Massively majestic, wondrously prominent
Earth’s highest, free-standing, natural monument
Aloft the equator
To its ice-capped crater
Tanzania’s iconic, roof of the continent
My first mountain trip, since the children were born
Had hung up the boots, with new lives to form
It’s been a long time
Since an alpine climb
Can’t wait to see, Kilimanjaro at dawn
We won’t require ropes, or skills especially technical
Just a long way up, to the ultimate spectacle
But I’ve some apprehension
Of this pending ascension
For at my ripe age, I am rightly self-sceptical
I’ve a mix of excitement and trepidation
Like how I’ll cope, with oxygen deprivation
Up into thin air
Where only fools dare
Have I done enough work, in preparation?
How will I go, when the going gets tough
What if weather conditions, cut up rough
A heaving lung burster
A gagging throat thirster
I wonder if I will be fit enough
Cold mornings I would drag, myself out for a run
Then walk home from the city, when the work day is done
Up hills around Kooyong
Steps in the Dandenongs
Then injuries returned, from before this begun
For whenever I ventured out to train
Shooting down my leg, was a stabbing pain
Years have taken their toll
Knees decrepit and old
But all this commitment, must not be in vain
Even my climbing gear, is now antiquated
Tattered, outdated and dilapidated
If it’s too well worn
It won’t keep me warm
Must be fleecy, thermal, but very light-weighted
There’s a myriad of mountains, I’ve climbed before
But I am not that mountaineer, any more
I’ll be slow and steady
And hopefully ready
For whatever high altitude, holds in store
Hopefully we’ll smell roses, as we make our way
With flora of each climate zone, on vivid display
Slow acclimatisation
At each elevation
I feel extremely lucky, I’m still able to play
But although we’re now free from pandemic lockdown
Our poor planet still faces systemic meltdown
Ice caps depleting
Snow fields retreating
Will we leave our dear mountain, in final countdown?
Such serious contemplation, at my age sixty-five
Will our yearned destination, this peak itself survive?
Its glacial alpine range
Thawing to climate change
Our nigh determination, will all too soon arrive
But this pinnacle of splendour, with its summit snow-kissed
God-given natural beauty, is still top of the list
Love to Abby, Sam, Milly
As I’m off to Mount Kili
The cry of Kilimanjaro … is impossible to resist
Kevin Holmes • 3rd July 2023
