The sky ladder, steep and precipitous,
     Zigzag straight up,
     Straight up
     Into the misty clouds !

     The stairway, thin as thread,
     Strictly no retreat,
     No retreat
     No way to squeeze past any successive climbers !

     So What? 

     Rung by rung I push my way upwards,
     I grip the railings hard and pull hard,
     With each tug, I hoist my body up,
     Step by step, I drag my feet up craggy stairs.

     Rung by rung, I push my will upwards,
     I block the wind and swipe it away,
     With each momentum I hoist my spirit up,
     Step by step, I crack each formidable rung !

     In this way,
     I reach the litle square hanging in mid air by a cliff.


     Lungs gasping,
     Heart bursting,
     Flesh steaming,
     But the mind is fighting ! 

     In the meantime,
     What a heavenly place for respite !

     There's another tiny square up there,
     Then the peak !


     Never say die !  

     On top of Mt Tianyou,
     Behold the splendour of nature at its best:

     A thousand peaks thrust skywards
     Competing for prominence in shoals of floating clouds;
     Towering sheer cliffs dazzle the eye
     In the warmth of the young spring sun;
     And sturdy evergreens decorate precarious spaces
     With their stunning postures.
     Then you have the green vales and dales below
     With a sparkling stream meandering among them.
     Spotted on cliffs and among the foliage
     Are a few red pavilions with curvy eaves.
     They must be the abodes of godly beings. 

     Ah, for a breath of the exhilarating mountain air!
     What an invigorating sight!

     At seventy-two and with undaunting spirit,
     Life is still worth living! 


                                                  By A Plucky Bumpkin
                                                  in the spring of 1997

Note:Tianyou Peak of Wuyishan is
     in the Fujian Province of China.
     It is 750 m above sea-level.
     The ascent was made on April 2,1997.