There are stairways

                                                                                                        There are stairways,

                                                                              like kisses,

                                                                                       that reach beyond reach -

                                                                                         that touch the very vastness of love.

                                        There are kisses,

                     like stairways,

                     that lead beyond sight -

                 never sufficient, never enough.

                                                          There are kisses for ‘up’,

                                                  there are kisses for ‘down’

                                         there are stairs of obsession

                                 that lead to your frown;

                        there are kisses that lighten

                like stars in the night

      and stairways of darkness

that obliterate light.

      And a thousand stepped tomorrows

                                       with choices to make,

                                with kisses as lanterns to guide.

                                              A thousand kissed footsteps

                                                                     and unsteady steps

                                                  and a thousand more stairways untried.

                                                                                             There are kisses

                                                                                                               like kisses

                                                                                                   and stairways

                                                                                          just stairs

                                                                              we must tread them both softly

                                                                     with wide open eyes.