Only yesterday you were pegging out your tent

You stood pitch-perfect at the centre of the floe;

Although nobody could know quite where you went

We were sure you were intent on the descent

At the border post all the documents were stamped

You had clear passage to go onwards to the peak

Knowing conditions on the journey would be cramped

Bit by bit jaw muscles tensed up as they champed...

So the moment passed while you were sitting on the fence

Become light-headed in the thinning of the air

Although you'd carefully prepared for such events

For all you care about it, here's ten pence

To make a call, forever henceforth

You'll be saying how your back was bent in the descent

Starved of oxygen, something had thrown you off the scent

Molecular particles are scattered in the wind

Although you sensed something beginning, in the end

For all the chances given, heaven-sent

You'd trade them all to pay the rent

And now you no longer remember what they meant in the descent

Only yesterday you were pegging out

Your tent stood abandoned where you left it

In your attempt at the descent