Five years ago

the ladder waits
rising out of an
island out of a field
where you climbed
one night
to see how far
it might rise

before you knew
how high you
had climbed
the stars spied
you in the dark

you stopped once
or maybe twice
to catch your breath
and peered out
over corn and
roads and city
lights and the ocean
you once knew

the stars came
closer to ask you
where you were
climbing to

you mentioned
something about
destination unknown
and kept climbing
into the night sky
where you could
finally become
the everything you
were before you
started that climb