Curiosity and apathy

Curiosity a tireless monster
Clawing up a mountainside
Searching for what is past the summit
What is beyond the horizon
Each misstep an opportunity for failure
Mountainside landslide jagged fraught
Paradise lost no place for steady footing
Each slip a knife plunged through skin
Until curiosity staggers near the summit
Bleeding out with each step
Staining the snow–

When curiosity finally dies
Something beneath
A festering beast unleashed
No longer held in check
Spreads along the path
That curiosity stalked–

Apathy flows downhill
Gains momentum
Paralyzing everything
Soon a flood that
Drowns the village
That curiosity
Once called home