Ladders in the Sky

Out of Hornsea town I stroll,
Along the shore without a care;
With jaunty step in air so fresh,
And down the path t’ward Cowden fair.

Then on the beach I sit a while,
The sun so warm, so high, so bright;
And back I lie upon a rock,
And shade my eyes against the light.

I hear the ripples gently wash
And splash upon the sandy beach;
Above, I see the sky so blue,
And hear the gulls cry and screech.

No dream is this, no angels I see,
A sight so fine, so strange, so weird;
From yonder horizon to heaven above
Stairs from heaven to earth appeared?

“Behold a ladder!” as Jacob said,
Amazed he was, he couldn’t deny;
To see the angels, one by one,
As down they came, from on high

And Jacob heard the Lord above -
“Through you, your children and those you know,
All people on earth will now be blest.
And I’ll be with you where’er you go.”
 
A ladder to earth from heaven above,
What can this vision mean for me?
As on the shore I sit and muse?
What now does life for me decree?
 

17 March 2018


This poem was based on the following scripture from Genesis, after seeing Cirrus clouds high in the sky in the shape of a ladder:
 

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel  (Genesis 28:10-19 (NIV))

10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it[a] stood the LORD, and he said: “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.[b] 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”