At First Light They Started To Climb Poem by Gert Strydom

At first light they started to climb
did later become two specks against the mountain
with the smell of snow, with boots gritting forward
the hammer that repeatedly were hitting pegs into the rock

and almost breathless they were gasping,
while moment after moment they were ascending higher
with steel clamps that did shine in the sunlight,
sometimes they did slip against the granite treading places

but the climbing rope
were stringed constantly between the two of them
and at last
they were on the top snowy-ridge

with the entire world stretching out
small and toy-like beneath them
and at the top they had few words
before they started with the descent.