The Woman at the Top of the Mountain

Dedicated to a junior in Art class. You know who you are, O thou before whom men swoon and faint, thinking they have died and come to Paradise.

"I am here to see the woman at the top of the mountain."
"She is not to be seen;
_____we, the townspeople, learn to let her be."
"Her fame travels across all the land."
"Her beauty benights the minds of our folk."
"Give me a way through:
_____I am a poor draughtsman who has seen my earth
_____scythed clean of spirits."
"She will not welcome you.
_____her looks are her curse, cast by jealous women."

And he came to the amber broadleaves.
"She is not to be seen;" they said.
_____we of the forest leave her alone.
"Her fame travels across all the land."
"Her beauty has scattered our wolves and brought down our geese."
"Give me a way through:
_____I am a poor draughtsman who wants to see true beauty revive."

And he came to the bluish pines.
"She is not to be seen;" they said.
_____"so far up she is in snow-covered wastes."
"Her fame carries up to high heavens."
"With it her prayers to be back where she was."
"Let me pass:
_____I shall save her from her treasures unwanted."

And he came to the cave in the snow-covered wastes.
And the woman sat there at the top of the mountain.
She wrapped about herself rough hides and old cloth,
_____obscured the world from her visage with a veil.
_____as a spell bound her in a shrine of youth.
"How have you found me," she said
_____"so far away from the town of my birth,
_____so high above the multicoloured wilds,
_____so far up in the snow-covered wastes?"

"My fame travels across all the land;
My fame carries up to the highest heavens."
"My face has crippled the minds of men.
_____My gaze has slain beasts
__________and hunted birds.
_______________It has sunk boats in the lake
_______________and torn ships in the sea.
____________________It has drawn lightning
____________________and incurred the downfall of
____________________great kings!"

"Silly man, do you really dare to see my face,
or be the vehicle of my burden to the impoverished world?"
"But come in and sit down; I have prepared you a meal
_____to reward you for your journey."
"I shall not face you and you will be home
_____when the sun slants west."

"Then will you let me break the spell;" said the traveller,
_____"return beauty to the world
__________where people live and are happy."
"Many a brave aesthete have come with a noble goal
_____and left with a broken heart."

"What good can I do for our people, when all good things
_____congregate in my own image
__________smeared upon my skin in thick slabs.
_______________How deep can skin be?
_______________I am made breathless by this burden."
"Are you sure that you are the one?"
_____"Men flock towards beautiful things;
__________There has been no shortage of mountaineers
__________who deign to die in my arms
__________enchanted by the treasure trove I wear.
__________Beauty in their eyes is all they go after,
_______________not the alleviation of my ills.
"But the true aesthete would come
_____and end my restless existence among rocks."

The draughtsman insisted
So she turned around to face him
And she removed her veil
And she brushed aside the hair that covered her cheeks
And she shed her cover of hay.
And the draughtsman watched her
_____and waited for the awe and wonder.
"Hear my words!" she said.
And the substance gushed out of her in a million streams
_____burst out of her in a million rays
__________flew out of her in a million birds.
It spilled of the summit rocks like ice off a glacier
_____into rivers to fill valleys.
_____Her hair was gold as the maize fields
_____Brown as the hides of deer
_____Black as the soil of volcanic coasts
_____Face of sculpted marble
__________and brows of polished jasper
_______________brilliant as mothers-of-pearl
"Let the curse of poverty be lifted from all men and women!"
_____"Let all who see me freed be true of heart
__________be free of unworthy goals
_______________in their quest.
_____"Let no woman sacrifice themselves
__________in worship of beauty;
__________let no woman be demeaned!
_____"Let no man be fooled by false decoration!"

And her eyes glared wide and severe
_____her irises dark as the blackest jet
__________and round as the universe closed in upon itself
_____her irises bright as brilliant-cut diamonds
__________and lively as the first light of creation.

_____her irises dark as a huge emptiness
__________billions of miles of philosophical desert
_______________wherein lives a sparse handful of dust
____________________each particle inaccessible to the other in
_________________________this monstrous scale
______________________________Each one self-contained, liberated,
___________________________________trapped, confused;
___________________________________and bursting in nihilistic fury!

There he fled past the snow-covered peak
There he fled past the hardy conifers
There he fled past the earthy broadleaves

Her beauty travelled across all the land
_____went into every living creature
__________and every plot of ground.
And it went into the townspeople
And it went into the jealous women
And it went into the battered wildlife

There he fled back to the foothills
_____where the deluge held tongues still.

"What has become of the woman at the top of the mountain?
_____Only a scattered tent greets my climb.
_____Where has she gone?"
I am the opening of your heart
and the light through your eyes...
Turn back to see the place where you came from.