Improv of "My Papa's Waltz"

I liked the line "I hung on like death." It just really struck me and made me wonder about life or death situations.

I hung on like death,
rope burns blistered my palms and inner thighs,
as I dangled from the mountainside.
Who's bright idea was this anyway? To go climbing
without telling a soul? There's a squirrel
finding lunch in the wool. What's it like to smack
waves 500 feet up? Cement building barriers 
around your bones and pressing together until 
dust remains. Halfway through the rope-
the furry tail swishing around the fraying wool
emblazons my eyelids
as my fingers release.