Betrayal on the Mountain 

Nighttime is the worst, for during the day

One is distracted by animations

In your grit infested periphery,

Steel shank sole

Compressing chest while heel 

Pivots crushing out the last of the light.

The boot which hiked beside you,

A soul that seemed concordant with your entire essence of being

Through a small and winding

But intimate journey

Of promises and pledges

To meet you on the mountain top

Where you would

Build that fortress of forever, only 

To kick you into the crevasse's gutter

As the peak's summit loomed and 

Neared, haloed in heavenly hue.

Standing upon you

Waiting for that last breath to escape-

Death rattle, mind destitute,

Delirious from depleted atmosphere

Air thinning, as again and again the scorpion

Stings the frog's back

Because that what was in it's nature,

Enveloping the mantra of trust no one infects 

Each wrinkle in your screaming brain where the amygdaloid process screams like a creature cornered in the steel shell of a cage from which it can not flee, nor from where it could fight- not wanting to freeze ;

The boot rolls from heel to toe, stepping off, walking away, leaving its tread

Left for dead 

Staring at the summit with dead man's eyes

Still seeing , wide dilated pupils like black holes- making everything existential except the heinous hurt of rubber stinging twists of skin-

Abandonment of the summit as

You can never trust another to belay,

Not anymore, knowing that free climbing 

Is now the only option, if you so dare

But experiencing such heights is empty solo.

So you try to breath and claw your way down,

Crushed and fearing to be crushed again

By unstable boulders cast down

From the craggy cliff you attempted to ascend.

Weary, wary to ever attempt another trek up

The scarred  and scree strewn walls of debris and wild flowers, no matter their alluring majesty and mist enveloped peak.