Barbara Curnow
I Climb a Ladder
… way up to a little window, open it and shout “I need more time!”
I fear that my aspirations can’t be achieved in my remaining years, even if I live to a hundred!
What to do? Just do my best? And how do I even know if I am doing my best?
What to do? Ask for help? Pray for help?
My aspirations won’t hide away, nor do I want them to. So somehow, I must keep striving and trusting. Striving alone would burn me out, but trusting is like a soft balm of sunlight on my efforts.
There’s trusting in myself, my destiny and whatever support the universe sends my way. There’s trusting that the little window will be there, eternally. That God will always have a listening ear if I make the climb and open the latch. And there’s trusting that the window will never be locked, especially from the other side.
Tomorrow, when I climb the ladder, what will I say? Perhaps just “Thank you”—my best reply to a billion blessings.
come death
may there be no regrets
just a window
open wide
and waiting
Note: The title is inspired by “The One Thing” by Pádraig Ó Tuama.
About the Author
Barbara Curnow has enjoyed reading and writing tanka and tanka prose since 2009. Her work has been published in journals, including Eucalypt, Skylark, Ribbons and Cattails, as well as several anthologies. She received a Eucalypt Distinctive Scribblings Award in 2012. Barbara finds much inspiration and creative camaraderie through her participation in a writing group, the Friday Writers.