Only yesterday you were pegging out your tent.
You stood pitch-perfect at the centre of the floe;
although nobody could know quite where you went
we were sure you were intent on the descent.

At the border post all the documents were stamped,
you had clear passage to go onwards to the peak,
knowing conditions on the journey would be cramped.
Bit by bit jaw muscles tensed up as they champed...

So the moment passed while you were sitting on the fence,
become light-headed in the thinning of the air,
although you'd carefully prepared for such events.
For all you care about it, here's ten pence
to make a call, forever henceforth
you'll be saying how your back was bent in the descent.

Starved of oxygen, something had thrown you off the scent,
molecular particles are scattered in the wind.
Although you sensed something beginning, in the end
for all the chances given, heaven-sent,
you'd trade them all to pay the rent
and now you no longer remember what they meant in the descent.

Only yesterday you were pegging out.
Your tent stood abandoned where you left it
in your attempt at the descent.