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Jacob’s Ladder
(
Anonymous Journeyman Mason, 1530)

I work on the Abbey.
Keen chisels    weathered wooden mallets
carving blocks of golden stone
dazzling in the falling winter light.

And on the West wall
on each side of the empty gothic doorway
where the great oak door will hang
we take a flight of fancy
the old Bishop’s vision
and build ladders up into the sky.

This is my heaven.
Carving angels like scaffolders
feet on the ladders’ rungs
reaching   ascending. So easy
to climb to God when hand and eye
are tuned to the hum of masons’ music.

angel on
          ladder

Hilary Thompson

 

If you have any thoughts on this poem, Hilary Thompson would be pleased to hear them.

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