A Night Climber Climbs In

Buzzer off!

Rattled out, a phrase my lips

Had not shaped for a hundred years.

At length I opened a window,

Grasped a sheepskin glove

From the wind and pounding sleet outside.

How do you do?

Halfway through the frame he shed a coat

Of tanned hide and the feathers of geese;

A Toyota swerved.

When climbing the North Face

You must start from either extreme

To make the first few feet up to the window-ledge.

Buck books popped over the sill,

He rinsed water from his moustache;

I really do keep sherry

(Which was lucky for him, I guess)

And as I poured the welcome cup

It was my pleasure to tell

That Everest really had been done.