A Ladder to the Sky
A spider's thread
Hangs from the ceiling,
Directly over my bed.
Every day I keep track of
How much closer it descends.
"Look," I say to myself,
"I'm being sent a ladder to the sky,
Lowered from above."
I've grown dreadfully thin,
A mere ghost of what I used to be,
Yet I think my body
Is too heavy still
For this delicate ladder.
"Soul, you go ahead.
Shhh! Shhh!"
[5 November 1996]
—translated by Adam J. Sorkin
