Can we leave town at six o’clock? Can you bring coffee for the ride? Can I read out directions as we go?
Do you make out the rocky pyramid out from the haze? Do you smell the raging bonfire of carbon and oxygen? Will we have a view when we get there?
Should we turn on the 4x4? Should we go around or over this bump? Should we have seen the carpark by now or shall we keep going?
Have you noticed our exhaust is louder than before? Do you hear a new rattle-rattle of something dragging? How long would it take to be rescued if the bottom falls out?
Are we the only ones here?
Is this the lake on the map? Could it have been formed by a meteorite? Is that a tadpole or a fish?
Do you want to try this side path? Isn’t it right to take the road less traveled by? I guess even the poet himself was ambivalent in the end wasn’t he?
Isn’t the summit higher than it looks? See the memorial marking a tragedy? How are there still mosquitoes at this altitude?
Imagine being the first to the top--is a flag more tasteful than graffiti?