Walls

It loomed before me

a wall I’d only glimpsed before

built with bricks

I’d stepped over

in the past

It blocked all passage

barrier to where I wished to be

an obstacle that reached

as wide as high

and had done all along

It would not move

I could not shift it

mortar bound, its rigid face

growled down

and all around

 

And so I climbed

 

I found the footholds

the nooks and crannies

I stood abreast its height

and saw for miles

And there were others

at either side of

finding ways to scale

to reach that place

beyond the wall

And high upon division’s altar

hand in hand, we made a chain

we linked and found that 

on the other side of walls

we were the same

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Toddlers’ Steps

All part of the journey,

tiny steps,

toddled steps,

reaching, wond’ring, touching, tumbling,

tentative steps, tiny steps,

falling down and bumping

and rising once again,

toddlers’ steps, the learning ones,

very little steps.

 

Frustrated tears and tantrums,

cautious steps,

toddled steps,

discovery in action,

wondrous steps, toaty steps,

letting go and trusting with some traction found and then

little steps, keep travelling,

very little steps.

 

Forwards, backwards, sideways, standing,

smiling, crying, up aspiring,

bumpy steps, toddlers’ steps,

fingers flailing, clutching, prising,

stumbling, reaching, failing, rising

step by step, step by step,

little butts keep tumbling, bouncing on and up,

teeny, tiny, teaching little steps.

 

perseverance, motion upright, two-step struggle, backwards,

forwards, ever onwards, sometimes upwards,

trying, failing, hurting, crying, immobilised, afraid,

still trying, trusting, seeing, wailing, weeping,

tempers, tantrums, dismayed and greeting,

pulling socks up, tying laces, ready, steady,

balance handy,

tiny little steps.

 

Eyes on loving arms outreaching,

smiling steps, trusting steps,

supporting, cheering, gaze unwaver’d

encouraged steps, building steps,

loving trust and confidence from others on the way,

little steps, the needed ones,

all important steps.

 

Striding out with self-assurance,

tiny steps,

toddled steps,

reaching for all promise,

swaying steps, bipedalled steps,

steps along the journey never really change their gait,

growth and progress toddle on,

determined toddlers’ steps.

 

Contenders

Flew atop cloaked mountain peak,

Ozone-succoured breath,

Weighted wings, view too steep,

Headlong, certain death.

Rendezvous with eagle there,

Chastised love forbids,

Stumbled step on heaven’s stair,

Inhuman sought rebirth.

Feathered fall, angel trips,

Teardrops form as ice,

Canyon echoes empty lips,

Heights to precipice.

All for naught, a chorus cried,

Relinquished for one kiss,

Fallen wings, to hell descends,

Temptation’s dark abyss.

Eagle soars from vantage point,

Dives with all surrender,

Angelic thus to human anoint,

Sinless, soul contenders.

Hope

All-gifted, all-giving, the gods did provoke,

Relinquished the right, them so to invoke.

Promethean crime, aid for mankind, aroused ire,

Retribution, from gods owning fire.

First woman among us, moulded from earth,

Bestowed by all deities, heavenly blessed.

But cursed by the gifts duality knows.

Determination, Zeus overthrows.

A gift bearing ills in a jar or a box,

Pandora relents and evil unlocks.

But hope still remains for good or for ill

Perception is all when hope does instil

Belief in the story of why god would choose

A mixture of gifts, some evil to use.

Is hope then a curse to action instead

Or essence to reflect on when life’s all but dead?

My hope is a blessing, that hope is a gift,

Enabling souls to elevate, to lift,

When all feels too empty, like box opened wide.

Let hope be the light that remains still inside.

 

We Come

We don’t come to bring you down.

You do that to yourselves.

Travellers here from far-off lands,

Others follow,

There are plans

 

You’ll never know.

We won’t tell all

Till passing time reveals.

The nature of our purpose here

Travel, space conceals.

 

Treasures hidden in the stars

Voidal,

Vacuum, space.

No, we don’t come to bring you down.

You do that as a race.

 

We don’t settle once we come.

Ephemeral passing,

Little here to seek.

We, as voyeurs, write the heavens.

Chaos and cosmos speak.

 

We don’t bring censure,

Admonishment,

That’s not for us to try.

Mere observations for firmament’s

Unfolding, endless sky.