Goat Mind

Cliff

watching the sun
descend into the collarbone of night.
The steel guardrail saying,

Not beyond here.

The man thinks of his wife and baby boy,
heavy thoughts, of how the family shattered
like rock against a hard sea.

Goat mind springs forth
propels his body over the sheer
take-your-breath-away rock and the

Heart

Ready as rain.
pours down, down, and down
the massive mysticism of stone.

Perched on a ledge no wider than his footprint.
The rock gives way, flung-back arms
and hands, grab for God, the sound of boots scraping

the solid things of his life,
falling into the sea's throat.
Spine cold as creek water.

Fearful like an animal
his right leg snags
an old root, mid-air, the man

dangles

like a snake.
Goat mind kicks in.
And the peregrine falcon floats by

his mercury heart knocks, and
The great door that does notl
ook like a door

Opens

"Climb."
Climbing.
Climbing!

Goat mind is wild mind

Wild

mind is no mind.
At 30 feet, blood begins
to pump up the thighs again.

Climbing man crying, leaps to an outcrop
and squats, the sea water shapes
the soft face of his wife before the storm.

The man slides down
the black slab of night,
his feet softly on the beach sand.

The mountain creek
flowing into the salt sea
bears a changing light.

Copyright © 2002 The President and Fellows of Harvard College.
All rights reserved. Comments. Last modified Wed, Dec 18, 2002.