Floating
Marking the steps you take,
the cracks in the ground testify
to the years the city has seen.
A long line of aspiration
is leaving you breathless at the end
that is also an arrival.
You tread a paradox walking
on the old, uneven road.
Some suppose it an obstacle
as they stagger and stumble
on their way that is sure to be down
because they do not see you rise.
To a lighter tune you dance.
At times the music moves
anticipating a change of mood
that comes and then goes,
like clouds in a clear sky,
or a crowd in a lonely street.
Floating, you view the scene below
before your higher ascent begins.
About the Author: Geoffrey Heptonstall’s fifth collection of poetry, What We Do Well, is published by Cyberwit. A Whispering, was published by Cyberwit June 2023. His first collection, The Rites of Paradise, received critical acclaim when first published in 2020. Sappho’s Moon and The Wicken Bird followed. A novel, Heaven’s Invention, was published by Black Wolf in 2016. The Queen of Alsatia, a novella, was published in Pennsylvania Literary Journal in 2023. A number of plays and monologues have been staged, broadcast and/or published. He is also a prolific short fiction writer, essayist and reviewer
Image Credit: International Stereograph Co., publisher “A rift in the Earth- deep crack in pavement on Mission St., showing half buried street car, San Francisco, Cal. disaster” (1906) Public domain image courtesy of The Library of Congress
As It Ought To Be 