‘Those Catskill Mountain Climbs’ and Other Poetry by Brandon Berman

Those Catskill Mountain Climbs

I’ve walked from Ayers rock to Sydney
I’ve seen all those majestic sites
I’ve beheld the peaks of Mt. McKinley
And of Everest in all its might

I’ve seen the meandering Nile
I’ve walked the great Silk Road
I’ve beheld the beautiful Fiji Isle
And the tropical Amazon as it flowed

Yes, I’ve travelled long cross land and sea,
I’ve walked the world a thousand times.
Yet even so there’s no place I’d rather be,
Than on those Catskill mountain climbs

For when you encounter those rolling hills
You’ll find that you have lost your breath
For it’s been taken by those forests still
That alone hold back the hands of death

Oh, to walk the land of little rivers
And see gurgling mountain streams
Will send down your spine prickling shivers
And a feeling from your wildest dreams

For here are trees strong and tall
Forests shadowed, calm, and cool
And birds sing and chirp and call
While deer drink from mountain pools

And hidden among the beautiful rocks
Are animals large and small
And if you’re as sly as a fox
You can hear them speak and call

Oh, there’s beauty buried in those hills
And as you walk you’ll find
That the scenery gives you chills
For you’ve never seen anything of its kind

And as you’re trekking up hills steep
You’ll enjoy the fresh pine smells
And in your heart you’ll forever keep
The beauty you find in those hidden dells

There’s no place like it on Earth
No better place to spend your time
For if you know their hidden worth
You’ll love those Catskill mountain climbs

A World Alone

A man may believe what he wants
Who am I to say otherwise?
But there is a thing that daunts
My soul and makes my heart rate rise

For some out there smile in glee
When they say that there is no He;
No one who created our world,
Just a universe naturally unfurled

Now I have no problem with this thought
But by their joy in this I am caught
For to me this would be a sad reality
That we are truly limited to our mortality

For I’d rather rot to my bones
Than contemplate a world alone

Brandon Berman is a student at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, the beautiful and natural scenery of which is a major inspiration for much of his poetry. He has been writing poetry since he was 13 and has been previously published twice in the modern-classical poetry journal Poetica Victorian.

Featured Image: ‘The Catskills’ by Asher Brown Durand.