The Deep Breath Precedes the Climb

It's so lonely at the top,
With no rungs yet left to climb
Nothing but a foothold and an echo
Did I really reach the peak
Or just tire before my time,
Too weary to look upwards anymore?

And I've scaled these tower stairs a million times
Chronicled and riddled them with verse and note and rhyme
Looking out the windows
As possibility shrinks away
High enough to see the lights
Of many other days
But all the things I long for stay below,
With nothing left above me but this firmamental dome.

I might come crashing down
Merely balance at this point;
Apex wasn't built for standing strong.
All the doubts just gathering
To herald my defeat -
Send me to the ground where I belong!

And I've scaled these tower stairs a million times
Chronicled and riddled them with verse and note and rhyme
Looking out the windows
As possibility shrinks away
High enough to see the lights
Of many other days
But all the things I long for stay below,
With nothing left above me but this firmamental dome.

Why is there never room for company
When having someone was the thing that spurned me on?
Why are there always those I leave behind;
Saved because I leave them there
While pressing upwards into colder, thinner, deadly atmosphere!?!

So sayeth The Brad...