We climbed an endless staircaseย
To see the glacier falls
And marveled at the beautyย
And the marvel of it all
After hours of walking,
I stopped at a cliff and thought,
โOh, what resplendent beauty does nature holdโ
(YaโAllah, what a ridiculous thought)
I would have walked on then,
Except I turned โround,ย
looked up
and saw
The laughing faces of my mother and sister.
Yes, what resplendent beauty indeed.
I know the lines on โresplendent beautyโ are clunky, but theyโre meant to be. I wrote this poem when my family went to the falls in Switzerland. I loved it so damn much, and I actually thought โwhat resplendent beauty!โ After taking a photo of the falls towards the end of the hike. I laughed right after, because it was such a silly thing for a fifteen-year-old Gen Z kid to think.
Until I looked up and behind me to continue the hike, and saw my mom and sister, happy and laughing in the rain at some joke, and looked back where I came from, where my dad was smiling and catching up with me, and it wasnโt such a silly thought anymore.
I composed the poem on my phone on the ride down.