Twenty Two More Feet Up

Twenty Two More Feet Up

Twenty two more feet up,
Is the top of the world,
The mountain peaks and misty clouds,
The pinks and yellows of the rising sun,
The mysterious shadows of the pale moon,
Or the dark blanket of night.

The harsh wind would hug your face,
The fragrance of the wildflowers be welcomed by your nose,
The sound of birds and trickling water would enter your yearning ears,
And if the threat of rain was near you would know.

You would realize you were standing on the top of the world,
Held back only by the earth under your feet,
You would realize you stood on a small and insignificant mountain,
But one that would forever change the way you saw the world.

All you need to do,
Is walk twenty two more feet up.

Comments & reviews · 3
Note: You are not logged in, but you can still leave a comment or review. Before it shows up, a moderator will need to approve your comment (this is only a safeguard against spambots). Leave your email if you would like to be notified when your message is approved.

User avatar
Jagged
Review
Jagged wrote a review · Sun Jun 13, 2010 6:45 pm

Hello there.
While there seems to be a certain message of encouragement that you're trying to convey, it's not very effective because your imagery, while nice, is a bit bland, and the images just don't really align.
The imagery first, as I was saying, is rather plain: "misty clouds" is redundant, "the dark blanket of night." is something of a cliché. "The harsh wind would hug your face" is an awkward image, the contrast of harsh/hug too strong and not able to complement each other in a way that would be worth remembering.
I have to say, also, that in the context of the poem - all those things you say can be seen from the summit, surely they can also be seen from twenty two feet down from it? A mountain by definition is so huge, this sort of distance does not make that much of a difference, and it undermines the meaning you're trying to give.

User avatar
Griffinkeeper
Review

It doesn't seem to work well. There is plenty of nice imagery, but they don't seem to connect to tell a story.

Twenty two more feet up,
Is the top of the world,
There seems to be a disconnect here.
The mountain peaks and misty clouds,
The pinks and yellows of the rising sun,
The mysterious shadows of the pale moon,
Or the dark blanket of night.


There isn't a connection to the next verse.

The harsh wind would hug your face, Hugging your face doesn't really make sense for wind
The fragrance of the wildflowers be welcomed by your nose, be welcomed? Sounds like you be talking like a pirate.
The sound of birds and trickling water would enter your yearning ears, Sound is singular, but the noises are plural. It makes it seem like we're yearning to listen to birds, then trickling water enters our ears. Should be "sounds."
And if the threat of rain was near you would know.



It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.
— Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind