Observations placeholder
Anon - Ladder of Augustine
Identifier
004949
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Sadly I don't know who the poet is here, this was in an anthology with no attribution, whoever they were they knew their symbolism
A description of the experience
The Ladder of Augustine - LO
We have not wings, we cannot soar
But we have feet to scale and climb
By slow degrees, by more and more
The cloudy summits of our time
The mighty pyramids of stone
That wedge-like cleave the desert airs
When nearer seen, and better known
Are but gigantic flights of stairs
The distant mountains, that uprear
Their solid bastions to the skies
Are crossed by pathways, that appear
As we to higher levels rise
The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upwards in the night