Down the Up Staircase
by Odin Roark

Like the conquest of a mountain,
ambition’s climb up is difficult,
but the descent,
that time when one’s determined energy is all but spent,
and the quest has yielded all it has to give,
loss of strength ensues because the nemesis known as fear,
leading to reality’s ever-threatening aftermath called disappointment,
waits patiently for us to slip.

Knowing this…

How seductive achievement’s challenge remains,
often a provocation to weaponize one’s mind against failure,
to avert common sense as a user friendly tool,
and concede to the grasp of tenuous emotions,
the unleashing of passions,
obviating reason.

And yet…

Defeat needn’t be some negative tat
on the forehead of aspiration.

For those paying attention to their inner-voice,
understanding mistakes as the precursor to accomplishment
becomes a viable deterrent to stumbling down the up staircase.

Might it be…

When one’s innate value system confronts doubt,
when all else has failed to deliver,
tenacity often volunteers the inexorable power of instinct,
where questioning further
becomes the non-lethal weapon to disarm
those convinced they have the quintessential answer,
the sure way to the summit.

Such perception distinguishes the voracious
from the submissive.

After all…

Like stepping atop a mountain peak,
the staircase-top of raisons dętre,
cannot guarantee the reward expected.
And then, of course, there’s the question
“How does one descend safely?”

As metaphor or empirical evidence,
Newton was prophetic in many ways:
“What goes up must come down.”