“Heavenly Stairway” Original watercolor painting by kayti sweetland rasmussen
SECOND CHANCES
Ask the way to the river.
Don’t go where others lead you.
Reach for the rope.
It will lead you home.
You can’t go back
to come to this place
where inkstained
marks on a kitchen door
show where the top
of your head once reached.
Life was warm and safe
on top of the hill, but
childhood trust in strangers
took your childhood.
Don’t go back to sleep
Girl with golden hair.
Sometimes all someone needs
is a second chance.
Reach for the rope.
It will lead you home.
Pachofa-Unfinished 
Lovely words and nice painting.
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Thanks Gerard. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
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I like this painting very much indeed! The way it turns into pure geometric pattern at the top is intriguing. Lovely poem, too.
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Like life, the stairway makes bumps and turns before settling down into a patrern. Thanks mrsdaffodil.
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What an intriguing juxtaposition. The stairs imply movement, progress, but the zig-zagish shape trundling up the center of them reminds me of the Great Wall of China: all stability and structure and STOP!
I’m not exactly a football fan, but it also reminded me of that phrase sometimes used in football for a pass thrown crisply, perfectly straight, and right on target: “frozen rope.”
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I do know the frozen rope phrase, I’m not sure if the stairway is right on target yet. It wiggles along its way not sure yet what it can be. Sign perhaps of a troubled life, ready to get on target.
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These enigmatic offerings leave me with impressions of spiritual struggle and contradiction: of certainty and doubt, of aspiration and disappointment, of promise and regret, of responsibility and dependence, of courage and faintheart, of truth and error: but above all the infinite fulfilment in discovering that to forgive others is to forgive oneself.
My reaction can only be a personal one to two very personal, related statements. Were they composed together? Were they consciously related?
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The river of course is Life as is the zigzaggy golden path of the staircase. They were meant to reflect one another, with Hope as their ultimate goal.
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Very poignant. I like this line in particular, “You can’t go back/to come to this place.”
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Isn’t it true of all of us? We must keep putting one foot in front of the other.
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