Four years ago, the ground rumbled and shook
and I watched the sidewalk blister and crack
as a ladder emerged from the depths of the Earth

I touched its sleek, clean ivory rungs
and strained my neck to see where it led
but there was no end in sight

So I stepped onto the ladder and climbed
and with each rung
the world grew smaller beneath me

I climbed until I could no longer see my parents’ faces
until the city became a grid
until the people and cars were like specks of slow-moving dust

And past the familiar grid
I could see other fields of specks, some brighter than the others
I climbed until these plains merged into one

When I finally tired I looked up
and saw more ladder above me, as though I had never started
the ivory beckoning as if there were a prize at the elusive end

Four years I climbed, and from the lonely rungs in the sky
I saw alien places from afar
colors and textures I never knew existed

And it took four years for me to realize
the ladder would never end
I stopped my ascent, and looked down

Remembering a time when I was but a speck within a speck
how firm the ground was
how before the ladder appeared I had never yearned to climb…

Then I began my slow descent.