That Old Ladder

Let’s go back to a hundred years before you or I was born and then grew up, backwards to a place where I’m sitting now. Ten feet above the old dirt floor, on an armchair, by the loft of a peasant barn I see daily life as it was back then. A boy, great-grandfather to me now, climbs a wooden ladder to the loft. I recline sideways, looking at him rise to the upper chambers of the barn. Tall as me now, climbing that ladder from the ground.
Armchair, armchair, take me back to now!

We all share this world

Hello son, it’s great-granddad again, this whole world is gonna blow
Nobody knows, nobody is aware, it won’t, it won’t show
We all lived for today, with peace and happiness along the way
I don’t know where we went wrong now
Now

It’s gone wrong from the negligence, that old ladder’s worn from feet and then
It’s only boards, we’re only men, yet together we ascend

Down, down down, that old ladder’s breaking down
Don’t we all grow slower through the days?

Let’s go back to a hundred years ago, backwards to that ladder and that loft. A place that was young and innocent; great-grandpa as a boy washing in the trough. My armchair plush and extravagant compared to the lowliness of the barn. Yet the boy is happy, I am not, and you can’t cure the cold if it’s the flu you’ve got. Staring at the child with open eyes, through the generations my armchair flies. After understanding time on a greater scale, I thank the little boy for what he’d done, telling me that life should be carefree, showing me that joy can’t be bought.
Armchair, armchair, take me back to now!

We all share this world

I don’t know where we went wrong, but the structure of the ladder isn’t strong
Somebody told me that loft was gonna come down one day
The world is full of lonely people searching for that loft and finding lies
If they’d... only thake a look they’d find ladder sitting right before their eyes
How... how

It’s gone wrong from the negligence, that old ladder’s worn from feet and then
It’s only boards, we’re only men, yet together we ascend

Down, down down, that old ladder’s breaking down
Don’t we all grow taller through the days?

Let’s go back to the present day: great-grandfather is weak and won’t live long. On the armchair in front of his deathbead I remember stories that he told. Ohh, now he climbs that ladder to the loft, departing from this world on a chair of fire. I recline sideways, imagining him rise to the upper chambers of the barn. In glory now, climbing that old ladder from the ground.

Down by great-grandfather’s house, we sat by the bulldog mill and we knew that these were the best times
Climbing that old ladder bare, with great-grandpa standing there, we knew this couldn’t last for long

Down, down down, that old ladder’s breaking down
Don’t we all grow older through the days?

Amen