A Thousand Lights From A Mountain Poem by Francois Hoon

Here I stand
In darkness of uncertainty
On the edge of a cliff in the middle of a night
A cool breeze is chilling my spine
As I look beyond on a golden shine

Behind me in the dark a forest broods
A darkness as such menacing my mood
It’s coldness and frightening solitude
Impressing on my mind
As if a force compelling me away

As I stand I feel the gravel ‘neath my feet
Crunching loosely as I shift my weight
An unstable base if I were to leap
As one or two pebbles slips,
And drops from the steep

I feel the pull
The darkness closely beneath
Gravitation choosing to hoard in this void
Calling my soul to soar towards
Yearning to sail onto some uncertain heath

I start to feel my legs growing tired
Beginning to wonder
What I’m meant to do
Is what I see
A goal
Or just a view?

A thousand lights from a mountaintop
Haunting my thoughts as I watch upon the drop
I cringe from the cold watery wind
Wanting to lie down and curl-up in a heap

Isolation…
I wipe the
Moist like
Sweat from my face

Long for warmth as the lights seem to be
A huddle of hoards a snug multitude
Maroon dark glow lighting the night
I watch from afar like a pushed-away Jude
An endlessness wild divide them and me

On this moment I feel that gravity that drains my will
Emptying my soul to a desolate still

Power punched from my legs
As I hunch to gain breath
I cringe at what wrings my muscles to death
An invisible force disabling me

Now increasingly
I long to leap
From a mountain top to a thousand lights
But thorny thistles to my ankles clings
Piercing stalks
Through my flesh cleaves

The wringing the wrath benumbing me move
Suddenly start slipping
As a grasp ungripped by oil
My body I feel gradually uncoil
Brawn tension dipping
A cloud of mist comes freshingly soothe

A fog appears from around the mount
Forming slowly down far in the valley beneath
Covering the light to an eerie golden glow
‘Tis as though
The dark being lit
As fluorescence of light
From the mist emanate

Through the thickness of air
I see the glow
Glowing gold
An almost warmth
On my skin now it fold

I try to take it hold
Desperation in my chest surges toward
This hope now felt all around
I shout, echo silent sound
I must now, I must get toward
My last hope – it to hold

Ah… I lift
I’m lifting free on flowing glow
I let go
Of the mountain beneath
And the thousand lights
Now above me it brights
Do I fall or fly?
I don’t know,
“I don’t know! ” I cry