Taroko Gorge to Hewanshan Heights

Where the air gets thin, that's where I'll breathe

where the fog eventually lifts from the Taroko Gorge 

to speeding clouds tweaked over Hewanshan 

along one thin road hugging the twisting mountainside

to ride its chilled wind dried grass face 

linked with my companion's hand like a chain

as I climb the steep stairway to the cloud zone

pointing me upward as it quickly passes around the world

from dusk to dawn in an azure sparkle

the top down to pine trees emerald dots

even when throne in winter's cloak of snow

tropical heights still in crystal flakes

here at the heights above the tropic of Cancer

like a belt round Taiwan's midriff the Gorge loins

not quite stretching to the west's exhausted coast

but here's where I breathe thin potions of magical condition

pristine to forget what cannot be left

higher and higher I climb to heights I've never flown 

outside of silver bird alone 

with the mistress of the mountains calling me

higher and higher to the peak of imagination 

to the pinnacle of creation 

higher and higher I climb

and when I couldn't couldn't climb anymore

higher still through dashing shore of watery air 

crashing  wind on the mountainside against my heart 

bringing fragrance of muse alluring during enduring 

the highest I can climb without and within

higher I climb like a man asleep in a dream

to reach my destiny and avoid the sheep 

that clutter my view on city streets 

higher and higher to meet the God of the mountain

March 16, 2021
Hewanshan

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