Stepping On The Stairs Poem by RIC BASTASA

in wanting to go up
you step on the stairs

on the first step
you have to please this black dog
with the meat of a cat

on the second step
you have to deceive this white cat
with the whiskers of a fish

on the third step
you have to please this pink mouse
with a collar of a black dog

rising on the fourth step
you have to convince the hawk
that the white cat is dead

advancing on the fifth step
the bull demands that the fish
must be caught with its fins clipped off

the sixth step is meticulous
you have to find a way to
reconcile the black cat and the white dog

on the seventh you will be confused
what to do and whom to really please
to reach the eight step

the ninth step has this owl
speaking to you to finally proceed
to the tenth step

and you want to advance some more
trying to figure out what these animals
are asking you to do without
creating all the chaos
you want to please them all
to get what you want

finally you take the tenth step
and you are too weary and guilty
and up there you find
there is really nothing worth
the taking at the end

there is just the wind
blowing your hair telling you nothing