up high on a ledge...you can see forever

Up High On A Ledge You Can See Forever

I am afraid of heights

I don’t like stairs

with spaces between the steps

I am afraid to go by myself

to the outhouse in the dark

I have come in dead last

running in a 10-k race

I have won the booby prize

in a golf tournament

I have fallen backwards 

into a gopher hole

drinking champagne for breakfast

I have watched a humpback whale 

breach beside my leaky zodiac

I  have photographed a grizzly bear

at oar’s length  from a dingy

I have climbed Sinclair Pass 

solo in hip-deep snow

I have always said 

I don’t do ledges

They said it is not that hard 

One step at a time

Faith,trust, the support of friends,

 a sturdy walking stick

will see you through

the  hard  tricky parts

up high on a ledge you can see forever 

I trekked Wiwaxy Gap and Luckiness Ledge

in a July snowstorm

without a map

I white-knuckled  the ledge

on the headwall of Skoki valley

to the mantra I don’t do ledges

I am still afraid of stairs 

never ran the marathon I thought I would 

I have not been to all the places

I have wanted to go

just never mind

I was on that ledge

where I could see forever.

audrey murray

November 2015