Going Down

Going Down

The way up and the way down are one and the same - Heraclitus

‘Going up and going down

Are not the same,’ she said.

‘There is only decline.’

The thought rang through her

Like a bell; she started

As a cat starts

At the sudden striking of a clock.

The philosopher lowered his head like a dog,

Caught at last

By the very stick

He had been pursuing,

Certain he would seize it.

‘Go down the merry path,

If you will,’ he said.

‘Go down the sloping road,

Wait at the bottom,

And be still.

Be quiet,

And wait for a word

To lift you up.’

And so she went down the merry path,

Though she did not will it.

She followed the sloping road

And waited at the bottom.

She was still.

She was quiet.

But no word came.

And, in time,

The absence of a word

Seemed answer enough:

Yes, there is only down,

The wind at your back,

And the law of gravity.