Up the Downward Staircase

Up the Downward Staircase

Up the downward staircase

Trudging, I ascend.   

Rising up slowly,

My baggage weighing me down

Deceit and discouragement beat me.

My effort begins to wane.

Striving ceases to bring me

Contentment, peace, and blessing.

Up the downward staircase

Still, I climb.

Hope gives way to sorrow

Though each step I rise higher

All my work is nothing

Emptiness is all I’ve found

Each step seems that much higher.

Success I’ll never reach.

The staircase ever winding

Into stormy clouds

Defeated but ever climbing

I walk up the downward staircase.

This is my favorite poem that I wrote. It speaks of struggle against yourself. Hoping for something that is better yet being defeated by your own striving. It so often happens in life and we keep on without realizing it. But it doesn't have to be that way. That is the metaphor of walking up a staircase that goes always downward.