Ascension Kevin McGowan

Ascension

Your sunlit cairns sit precariously stacked stone placed upon stone placed upon stone by hands over time in memory of those that lost their purchase on the scree and ensuring newcomers do not wander astray

all these pilgrimages imbue you with meaning build you up to celestial heights stone upon stone upon stone like the cairns and so, people come to potter their souls upon your slopes

does a mountain remember every person to ascend and descend –the fleeting touch of lineages, civilisations, through millennia? our imprints known only to you

maybe one day you’ll carry the very last trace of us to the firmament in your snow-capped rocket and as sure as primordial ooze once mouthed mouthlessly in your now silent tributaries, hands and feet will find you again

Kevin McGowan

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