Ladders and Sinkholes

For years I climbed ladders 

Made of diamond rungs,

To the ecstasy and blissful oblivion

Of pure white skies, 

Higher, higher, higher…  

Sailing across the clouds,

Waltzing with the stars,

Joyriding through hyperspace, 

Until, one by one,

Hit by hit,

The rungs melted away, 

Cracks in the pavement 

Dissolved into sinkholes,

I freefall deeper and deeper

Into the black iron cages

Of the underworld, 

Powerless to resurface