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Her temple ceremonial
space is intensely private.

Despite the orderliness of
the ruins, she is anything
but easy to navigate,
seven hundred roads.

Walls on either side of her
are 40-foot high, there are
no windows, only a slice of sky

More than seven hundred rooms
all plastered stark white.

Each society's records stored in urns and baskets where they
 can easily be retrieved and
called upon for heavenly advice.

The records have a practical side; they give the caretakers land
and water rights, proof that
your great-great grandfather
grandmother worked the land.

This belief creates heaven, the
only access you have to your
ancestors.

She has a serious demeanor.
She starts her climb a half of
a mile from the temple
crossing the lake's lapis
blue waters.

The highest peak pulls her
down from the blinding
sheet of gold, it must be
overwhelming,

a mind-altering, life-changing
experience, knowing the
effect of the optical illusion
she created.

Only when you climb the
last stair and reach the
temple's flat surface
is where the angels appear.

Now look around.  In heavenly
cosmology, this spot really
does mark a wondrous place
 between earth and heaven.

Watch what happens when we climb
The Stairway to Heaven.

Copyright 2006 Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist, brainchild of Sage Sweetwater Creative Properties, flagship of Stone Creek Woman