Clinging to a Crevice
The orange sun splays across the sea in setting array
It makes me think of old movies in their brand-new technicolor
And bobbing in the ocean you see these little dots
At first you pause to wonder, then it becomes clear all at once
You're looking out at sea lions, drifting in the water
While all their rubbery brothers are screaming on the rocks.
But they know what is better, those water-treading beasts
They know that the water holds the sun so fierce
And then I'm on a rocky ledge with sand blowing in my eyes
I'm overlooking vast mesa deserts glowing with sunrise
The sharp stink of sulfur fills my nostrils but I don't mind
Because the barren land around me is impossibly sublime.
And now I'm on a mountain, somewhere in the Rockies
What once I found impregnable from the highway far below
Slowly I've ascended and it has become my home
With wild flowers, flowing streams, and hills lined with boulders
I'm hiking miles of steep, challenging trails and loving every moment
At last I'm climbing up a cliff
I scarce believe I've come so far
And clinging to a crevice, just enough to hold my fingers
I feel so scared and nervous, yet totally alive.
It's not what many people think to make your life
To some its constant treading in the ocean, when on a rock you could lie
And on this rock they claim you see the same old stuff
But just like those drifting lions I know
That the ocean holds the sun.