GLIMPSES

In darkness,

Walking up the stair,

Suddenly,

My foot falls through the air

Having reached the top unexpectedly.

Thrown off by lack of one more tread,

As if I’d topped a pyramid

And fearing I might tumble free,

Undone by my own certainty

Of just what stairs and things should be.

And though my foot soon came to rest

Again upon the floor, I’m left

Uncertain by a modest glimpse

Into a place where stairs are missed

And lead you to a cold abyss.

And in the morning I’ll descend,

Fall into the world again

And wonder at my awakening

Having learned about the stairs

And things.

You and I like to pretend

To know how life’s great arc will bend

But stairs do not equivocate.

What other glimpses might await

Among my measured steps of fate?