2Helga@80

Posted on 05 August 2009

2Helga@80 by Stephen Gyllenhaal

Is there a mountain taller than 80?
Could you show it to me, please?
For instance, take Mount Everest:
pretty tall, I’d say, except
when it’s at its top, or near its top
can it begin to talk
of having loved,
of having brought into this world
a single child?

And sure, the view will take away
one’s breath and more:
the tracks of animals in snow,
the sun, the moon that leaves
a ghostly glow,
the cliffs that bring on death
with one mistake,

but does it hold a candle
to the hand that holds
a husband or a daughter moving on
to their own undertow?

Will that gigantic mountain cry?

Or take a building like The Empire State
with all it’s steps that one can climb -
will that come ever near as close
to heights of giving
one small hug or
even a cookie to little fingers,
bones and lips that hunger

for a sister, mother, grandmother, great grandmother?

Or what about the taj mahal, the pyramids and all the jewels
of all the royal kings and queens and masters now
of all the giant crowns of global reach (the cokes,
the nikes, microsofts and kingdoms yet to come
to rule us all and tell us what they think we need)

how do they stand a single chance against a single
glance, a smile, a touch from one who’s reached
to higher than them all by far

for by simply breathing 80
you’re the closest here
to touch a star.