A Poem With Skiing as its Metaphor - Facing Into the Fall

This is a poem about Parkinson's Diisease that uses skiing as its metaphor.  I've attached explanatory notes.

Wiithout the notes, non-skiers seem completely lost.  

Facing Into The Fall

I am watching

from the lip

above a steep cornice

visualizing my body

facing straight down the hill,

falling into the turn.

But ahead I see a line

of shabbily dressed neurons.

They are disappearing,

one after another

over a ledge,

dropping into their last

no-fall zone.

I ski after them.

But I cannot watch.

My body hugs the mountain,

shivering,

turning away.

Where is the cavalry?

Where is Doug Coombs?

There, among the rocks,

motionless,

they stare at the sky,

smiling.

Author notes

Poem prompt:  The Way Home - the path to truth.

 Facing down the hill in skiing - a metaphor for fearlessly facing the truth.

"body hugs the mountain" - a phrase used in skiing to describe feeling so much fear that your body is oriented backward toward the mountain (virtually guaranteeing a fall) rather than forward into a controlled fall downhill.

Doug Coombs - a famous extreme skier, known for the sheer beauty of his turns and his ability to read the mountain.  He lived into his 40's until he slipped in a no fall zone while trying to help a friend.