I couldn’t say
Whether I’m near the pinnacle
Peering down presumptuously
Vertiginous
Or floundering at the base
Squinting up speculatively
Claustrophobic
White light at one end
Framed pinprick
Flat calm it’s opposite
Stillwater void
Or just staring at the wall
At the brickwork’s frigid sweat
This narrow ladder
These protruding rusted rungs
Splintered and uncertain
Make each measured step
An effort of will
Precarious
This interminable journey
Like a rheostat
Variable resister
Weighted at both ends
The gloom recedes
Where the summit’s filtered dawn empowers
Strengthening grip and resolve
Whilst in darkness’s depths
The gaps widen
Slippery and unsure
Footholds faltering, elusive

To the spider clinging to the reed
Narcissus calls
Seeking his pensive reflection
In misted exhalation
In the still pool beneath
Subterranean bewitchment
Atlantis’s promise beckons
Submerged expansion
Measureless to man

We are all of us climbers
Ascending and descending
Sometimes aided:
Silhouetted support team taking the strain
Harness relieving the weight
Spinning in this empty space
Sometimes hindered:
Cold hands of the solicitous lost
Reaching, water-swollen
Their insidious insistence
Adds its burden
Sometimes just clinging:
Drawing breath
Treading water
Alone

Here in our silos
Unyielding passages
Separated by a strata of infinity
Unmoved and indifferent
Distant yet empathetic
Sensing others’ closeness
Heads cocked oftentimes to listen
Judging the epic progress of our fellows
Sometimes drawing strength from their endeavours
Grunting with exertive ascent
Or weakening when they stall
Keening to the sky
Arcane correlation
Complex algorithm of cause and effect
Esoteric markers, brandished indicators
Sometimes half-imagined
Always straining to hear
Not to hear
The soft splash of a fall
Chill embrace
Silence resonates
Distended
Then broken
By time’s metronome
Incessant drip
Drip

Poignant minimalism
Echoes
Reflections
Smoke
And mirrors
Stillness
Reflecting
With a palpable
Sense
Of loss