Rungs Of the ladder
By Asmaa Adeleye
We had begun with the sun in mind
The idea was ‘a peak higher than the clouds’
So on the rundle, our feet were set
Eyes echoed the steps, to the first destination of stars
Specks of luminance shimmered
Brought in ease and the weather of good times
The drive to strive was alive,
Not the laboured buck, not the tug of the expectant knives
It seemed like but that was not it
Pressure really never stopped existing
But had a part of it as a thing not vocal
A bar, set low that attaining was no struggle
Then, the torrent of seasons were rotating easy after medium
Some sort of levels in the world of games
Easy, medium and the mighty hard
But the ‘hard level’ was as good as dormant
Rides were not too bumpy, like the way to paradise
There was no way worse was foreseen
Equally, no reason to forestall
We could have remained in the stars
But time quickened steps and waiting was lethal
No, waiting was not of the choices
We had begun with the sun in mind
Time billowed, swam with us to the Moon
And there it was, in all shades of honesty and clarity
A gentle glow and decipherable demeanour
Hid in the days and soothed at nights
With the silence that needed no word to be understood
A comforting reminder that there was more beauty in existence
For the moon had always been the night’s
We could not be tended to round the clock
Tall hopes were dashed, all coming down in crashes
Calm and smooth were too swamped to ‘human-sit’ all day
We toiled during the days, found our share of peace and rest at night
We had moved a rung higher and other things were bound to, fairly
A new era broken into, an age of repainting dimensions
Words ate heavy meanings, gained weight and familiarity
Highs and lows, dynamic relativity
‘standard’, ‘failure’, ‘success’, a particular ‘reality’
There were perks too, when moon shone peace onto chaos
A sharp shooting smile and a calm felt in reverberation
And on the secret days when sun took naps and moon strolled the clouds
Since then, things never returned to the former
It was due time to pedal on progress
For, we had begun with the sun in mind
Sun bellowed and beckoned amidst the clouds
Not out of urgency did we trail the sound
Rather, there was time and the quest for purpose
In ascent, we rose to a new beginning yet again
We did witness a floating outside the confines of water
Floating sun and clouds were beings entwined
The dreams we had floated with the clouds
Ours was to catch in the air, to grip tighter in the pricking heat
It burned to light up, it heated to shine
Moon was a shade compared to sun
But here did we get the resilient touch, emerging the brightest
Did we really mean to begin with the sun in mind?
Bet it was to have been something above
We probably had meant the topmost sky, the one that was said to be ‘not our limit’
We lived in the stars as innocent kids
The version of us cradled by protection
Teen and adolescence had fought to claim
Living on the moon with the perspective of earth was the ‘right thing’ for the mids
Adulthood was a billow of sun and clouds
Crashed on us while we reached for the topmost sky
The emergence of life in stages, each of them taking their chances
In the quest for purpose, the search for meaning
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