There are times the only purchase 

Is a seam

Just enough for a fingertip grasp

All wiry tension and sweat and strength

The eyes can never falter

Ever upward 

As feet move slowly

A studied progress

From outcrops to angles

The hands have it

The balance, the grasp

A fist acting as anchor

For the next rise

A pull 

A push

A boost into the sky

The reward

For holding on ~ Caroline A. Slee