Everest Invitation Poem by Liilia Talts Morrison

There is a distant mountain
Far from oft traveled roads
Some call it Chomolungma
A peak of unknown codes

They speak of it in whispers
They do not dare reveal
Fears of the ancient dangers
The craggy slopes conceal

It wears a shroud of cloud plumes
To hide a mighty peak
The natives dare not look there
Well knowing its mystique

None dare to set their courses
Without rapt prayer and thought
To scale that mighty boulder
That hack men's ways to nought

Yet there's an invitation
This summit near the sky
Still holds for thirsting mortals
and those who often cry

Though they may languish daily
In alleys dank and foul
There is a way of climbing
The mount that conquers soul

The feet of him that bringeth
Good tidings to mankind
How beautiful his feet are
On mountains of the mind

There is an invitation
A supplication dear
To reach for great good tidings
And draw salvation near

There is a distant mountain
Far from oft traveled roads
Some call it Chomolungma
A peak of unknown codes.