Walery Eljasz Radzikowski, Austrian-Polish
“Hey, I Never Said It’d Be Easy. But Do You Guys Want To Be the First Barbershop Quartet To Climb Everest or Not?,” 1878
Oil on canvas
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/// In the mountains called Tetra, a guide
conducts tourists with no tether tied.
On the steep mountainside
they took danger in stride,
and if one fell nobody else died.
/// Viewing scenes too majestic for words,
they looked down upon shepherds and herds.
Miloš takes off his hat
which he shakes and yells, “Scat!”
at a group of some prey-seeking birds.
/// These Carpathian vultures insist
that their prey’s life first cease and desist.
But they don’t mind at all
if a climber should fall
after getting a feathered assist.
/// On this peak they have set out to scale,
they have faith that their guide will not fail
to find handholds to grip
where their feet will not slip,
and to blaze them a climbable trail.
/// They’ve climbed up above men’s noisy din
where the air’s getting colder and thin.
The acoustics this high
echo into the sky
and the yodelers high notes begin.
/// Miloš wouldn’t admit feeling fear,
but he steadfastly stayed to the rear.
To their shouts, “Where are you?”
when he dropped out of view,
he replied from afar, “I’m down here!”