Earth's Staircase

Standing in my chucks.
Just standing.
My camo shorts
Bagging out at the end
My bright green tee
My hair wavering in the breezes
Clings to my face like a web across my eyes

I stare at the eucalyptus
Just staring
And search for its top.

I feel dread
Just feeling
But I wash it away
Pack my innards with thrill
The coruscating sun attempts to blind me
Like the smoke of burning bridges behind me

I’m climbing it
Just climbing
My calves are pulling
I feel their strands stretching,
Snapping the twines and
My foot falls.
But my forearms relieve me
With a circular grip scrunched around the sandy bark.

The bumps and edges cut my skin
Just cutting
And I grow calloused
But I am met with prickling needles

Jabbing in me
Just jabbing
Catching the threads
Undoing the seamstresses work.

I’m losing the pain in my legs
Just losing
It’s fading
Just fading
I lose the needles sight
Just blinding
branches fly away.
Just flying
The blue sky turns white
Just turning
I can’t breathe the heavy air.
Just dying…

i lose my hands,
my eyes,
my toungue,
my nose,
my ears
all….

I’m lost in the white,
floating,
flying,
fleeing…

Like the blast of a bomb the ridged branch slaps against my back.
The needles, the branches, the scraping bark,
It’s all around me again in a sudden burst.
The air is heavier,
The branches are heavier,
My arms are heavier.

The sight down looks like a sweet escape,
Like the secret passage of a dark mansion.

No.

Look up.
I can go one more.
Darkness, needles, sharp pains and bruises. Aching.
Just aching
All till the top.

I know
Just knowing
I can’t see it.
I can’t feel it
I can’t breathe it
I can’t hear it.

But it’s there.
It’s bright, it shines, it blinds,
It radiates and exudes all the pain.
I will see the forest tops,
I will feel the breeze,
I will touch the sky,
I will talk to the birds,
I will taste the sweetest apples.
I will win.
Just winning.