Based off the song lyrics of; “Mountain At My Gates” by Foals

“I see a mountain at my gates.

I see it more and more each day.

What I give it takes away,

Whether I go or when I stay.”

I sit on my front porch staring at the mountain that looms in front. Growing up in this home it has never left. I have been alone as long as I can remember. All that I can remember from my younger days is a vague figure walking off our porch. Everyday I wait for them to come back; to remember they left me. Deep down I know they won’t.

If I can’t help it, my mind wanders to what life would be like without the mountain. If the mountain just disappeared. When I do I feel free, like a weight was lifted off my back. I try not to think like that because I know the mountain will never move. It will always be there.

“I see a mountain in my way,

It’s looming larger by the day,

I see a darkness in my fate.”

The day something happens in my life seems farther and farther away. The long, dark shadow of the mountain hangs over me, like the clouds on a rainy day. Leaving me sitting there hoping for a brighter day, with nothing to grasp. No control. Here sitting on my porch, waiting for something that I know won’t happen, to happen. My future seems repetitive and gloomy.

The shiny glint given off the tip of the mountain blinds me, yet I cannot pry my eyes off of it. The coniferous trees running up and down it provide its nightmare-ish nature that it imposes upon me. The look that it could pounce on me at any moment. Without warning, it could strike. Now, each day I get a bigger impression that this is how my life is and will always be.

“Oh gimme some time,

Show me a foot hole

From which I can climb.”

Tonight's a night in which I don’t sleep, I lay thinking with my eyes open. Tonight seems different. I feel something new bubbling inside of me. A defiance of my life. A push to find something. I quickly try to push out this feeling. It’s stupid. I have to accept my life as it is. It won’t change. I feel the fight that has been bottled up all of these years burst to the top. I jump out of bed and run.

Blindly I run with no destination. I burst through my gates and towards the mountain. After running about half a mile I collapse. I lay there for a long time. Asking myself what came over me. How did I get here? I finally look up to see the mountain hanging over me.

Now is my time. I imagine all of the amazing things that are over this mountain. I push myself up and start to climb. Starting up the mountain is easy. Though there is gravel and loose rocks, I traverse rather easily. I look up to see how much farther there is to go. I wish I didn’t as the terrain gets much steeper as I go. “There will be no stopping.” I tell myself. I force my body on into the night.

Morning has come. At some point I must have collapsed during the night. I am now surrounded  by pine trees. The trees cast an eerie shadow over me. They almost seem as if they are forming a path for me. I decide to follow the one direction I know. Up.

After several hours of treacherous climbing I step in something. My foot is stuck in it. Mud. I turn to the left and see a stream. I sprint over and drink as much as I can. The cool spring water soothing my throat. The stream is running downwards so I follow it up the mountain stopping to drink every so often. A ledge comes up in front of me. I turn to the right and see what I have to face. An almost vertical cliff made of gravel.

Facing this is the last thing I need. I can almost smell the peak now. I am ¾ of the way there. I have one last challenge. Here it is. I place my foot on the gravel. I slip. I need a plan. I reach for a tree on my right. Since the terrain is so steep, the tree grows on a slant allowing me to step on it with ease. The trees form a makeshift staircase forme as I make my way up the side. All this time looking up on the mountain, it is almost my time to look down on it. It is my time to conquer MY mountain.

After I’m past the steep part, I can see the peak about 50 feet above me. The stretch in front of me is almost nothing. All I have to do place my feet in the right places and I’m there. After ten minutes of climbing I reach a ledge that if I climb onto I can reach the peak easily. I grab it and pull myself up. I’m now three step away from the peak. 3 steps. 2 steps. 1 step. I reach out with my left hand and touch the peak. Pride courses through my body. I did it! I’ve conquered the mountain. I take one last look at the speck that was my house. I imagine the gates still burst wide open and my sheets still tangled. I decide it is time to look at the other side.

I gasp. The other side is filled with specks. Specks in the shapes of houses. Hundreds of them. I wonder if there are more people. Maybe more people like me. I can’t hold back anymore and start to run down the mountain. The terrain is much easier on this side and I can move quickly. I will soon be there.

The sound of music hits my ears and I know I belong here. Everyone here has there own mountain. And now I know that this is my home.

“Oh, when I come to climb,

show the mountain so far behind.”