Adam's ladder

 
human visions conjure
a slender ladder 'twixt earth and sky
fragile steps ascended cautiously
shedding sorrows and anguish
pausing to cry at the joy
lonely in recollections
of what once was
and never will be again
plunging ahead at the risk
of that one great fall
calling across the nothingness
for those others who surely
pass this way
with no answer found
until sound is forgotten
and brightness is all
 

c. 2/11/09, B. Riley