Letting Go Posted on December 29th, 2009
Letting go
by Rick Spisak
Turning over and over, arms and legs flailing, vainly I hoped to slow
or even stop before the ground gave way. I fought for friction’s friendship.
It might protect me, delaying gravity’s inevitable victory. I clawed and
clawed pulling at the grass, fingers coming away only with dusty tufts of
old grass.
I never even slowed before the real falling began. Already over the edge
my fingers amazingly caught a root and my hands strained to gain a solid
grip. Scraping my palms the root slid tantilizingly through my grasp, then
I was airborne again. Arms outstretched I reached for… hope. I lurched
again to an abrupt stop only another four feet lower down.
A shower of dirt from the crumbling ledge above caught me full in the face
splattering hundreds of tiny pebbles into nose, mouth and down my neck.
I had nearly caught my breath, when the root came loose and I fell arching
backward in slow motion away from the wall. Landing surprisingly and yet
tentatively in the “y” of a scrub sapling jutting out lower on the cliff.
After a few minutes, I chanced a peek over my left shoulder, tightly holding
the thin branches. My slipping grip scoured the leaves and small stems
away as the branches slipped through my hands. Leaning as far as I dared,
I still couldn’t see the valley or the river below.
The burden from my landing must have snapped ten thousand microscopic
root hairs and mere moments later the master root snapped and the tree
jettisoned me, launching me into the outer air, back to the unshakeable
grip of gravity.
namaste
Rick
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