Jacob’s road not taken…
Seems to me Jacob paid heavily for that vision,
that ladder of angels progressing heavenward,
earthward. Wrestle with an angel, you’re going
to feel it. His hip was wrenched out of joint.
I forget what the angel gave him.
A blessing, maybe. Maybe he put
his leg back in its socket. Jacob
never set foot on a ladder rung, though.
Why not? Did the blinding bright
climb seem too breathtaking?
Or was it clear, after besting an angel,
that Earth was blessing enough?
Today’s Jacob would be shrewder,
disjointing rungs of amines, seeking
knowledge to build a better escalator
that spirals not just to Heaven,
but far beyond to future merchandise,
purchases so resplendent as to blind
through the blackest obsidian shades,
right through our fragile tissue eyelids,
multi-faceted mirror surfaces
flashing light shards sharply
dissecting atom from molecule,
continuing through quarks and gluons,
each minute detail dancing to
human music, no more
chaos of the spheres, just
soothing new age croons
singing us right through
into the black emptiness
that sleeps like poison
wrapped in artificial light.
~ Wry Welwood,
late twentieth century,
re-edited May 2021
Thanks to J.D. Harms and Viraji Ogodapola