This poem by Dave Bathgate was on one of the Andy Nisbet memorial links. I thought it was worth sharing with everyone who climbs.
How can we justify a life,
Spent sitting at the coal?
Or roaring at the stadium,
Foul ref, off side, goal.
And how do we justify the time
Spent sitting at the set?
Or in the boozer sinking pints,
Or placing one more bet.
And tell us how we justify,
The attitude today?
That even if we shirk the work,
We still expect the pay?
How can we justify a life
Without a plan or vision?
With never a constructive thought
No risks and no ambition?
And yet we sit and criticise
The spirit wild and free
Who climbs the highest mountains
And sails the cruellest seas.
Who plumbs the deepest oceans
Or explores the darkest caves.
Or has the crazy notion
to surf the biggest wave.
Blinded by security
We say they must be fools,
To shoot white water rapids,
Or fight fast whirlpool
But a true appreciation
Of life we will never know,
Till we have pushed our minds and bodies
As far as they can go.
And if death should overtake us.
Then death must have been due,
But there is no sting in death,
No sting for you.
