The Final Peak
Was it really limitless, expansive
in its capacity to carry me forward?
Surmounting any obstacle,
daunting, then,
minuscule, now, looking back.
The final peak draws nearer, the end
closer, the time that fills this vessel
less, the further it climbs.
Some mountains are insurmountable.
This is my response to Quadrille #97: Filling the Page — the prompt from De Jackson
at dVerse, using the word fill in a 44-word poem that does not require meter or rhyme.
Image source: pixabay.com
rivrvlogr 
The good news is there are new vessels to be had.
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I’m pretty sure I’m stuck with this body, and I’m getting closer to it’s use by date with each year that passes!
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I am really trusting that 1 Cor. 15 is true. It’s a good story.
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Thank you for your words.
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Some mountains we don’t want to attempt at all. This one gave me the shivers.
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Age has never bothered me. At 54 it was just, “Wow I passed 50!”
But now with 67 a mere blink away, it’s, “Where did the time go?!”
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I started to get ansty around 27. It’s different for women, I think. The biological clock is deafening.
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This is such an important perspective on life:
“daunting, then,
minuscule, now, looking back.”
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Thank you. 🙂 I enjoyed this prompt.
Some decisions weigh heavy for years, while others simply fade from our minds.
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With the passing of each decade, each of us becomes more aware of our mortality. At 75, my regret is that I didn’t do enough, see enough, and accomplish enough. Like the stairway to heaven, your peak’s top is shrouded in clouds.
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Indeed. There easily could be joy and inspiration along the way.
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It’s a shock to the system to realize there are limits to this thing we’ve thought of as limitless. I don’t like to contemplate it at any length.
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One day at a time, right?
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I like your description of drawing near the final (perhaps insurmountable) peak.
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Thanks, Frank.
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Day after tomorrow is my 86th birthday. Needless to say, your words spoke to me!
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Happy Birthday!
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Belated Happiness, and wishes for continued happiness!
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I like the changing perspective as one gets older. And that ending line gets me.
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Thank you. We all reach it, some sooner than others, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the climb.
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I appreciate your take on the prompt; we fill our days or “kill time” and- yeah, the surest thing we can attain looms ever closer.
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Thank you.
While I still ask myself where the time has gone to, I hope I’m wise enough to not squander the time that remains.
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The thing with peaks is always yet another one higher than that one you expected to be THE one to rise above … no end to the peaks and apparently no end to our hoping to keep rising over the next …
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Stay alive by keeping hope alive! 😉
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“Daunting then…miniscule now..” I guess that’s how it works all the time but nevertheless, time doesn’t seem to fill this gap, does it ?
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True. Although, hopefully, we learn with hindsight .
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Thank you, my friend. This poem had such a powerful impact on me.
I hope you are well and that life offers you love and grace.
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Thank you, Lorrie. I like to think I’m doing well, when I can both wake and go to sleep with a smile.
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“the time that fills this vessel
less, the further it climbs.”
So true.
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Thank you. Make the most of it! 🙂
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I like your metaphor on life. It flows just like the balloon. Perhaps we are just a bunch of hot air balloons!
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But more than just hot air!
Thanks, Dwight.
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I will approaching 40 in a couple of years and feel like, what have I done til now!
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There’s still time!
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I hear a deep contemplation in your words. We only get one vessel to live from. How do you want to spend your days?
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Definitely by making the most of them. 🙂
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Oh, the end will come… it always does… I love the way until the end though
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Make the most of what’s offered. 🙂
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I think there are still some smaller mountains to scale. I see this vessel still sailing new heights.
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Yes! Enjoy every moment.
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I suppose one day you get to the top–and then that’s it, or there is something beyond–depending on your beliefs. My mom is 97 though, so there could still be a long road to climb.
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I’ll take another 30 years! 🙂
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Also, when I saw “Peak” in the title, my mind went to “Twin Peaks.” 🙂
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Which still lives on, in many minds!
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🙂
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Wonderful ❣️
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Thanks. 🙂
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I feel sadness at the end. Well penned Ken.
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Thank you, Pat. A little sadness, yes. I think it comes down to coming to terms with the inevitable.
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