Horizontal Fall

No dizzying height, no precipice to leap, Just level ground where secrets softly sleep. A sudden stillness, an unscripted pause, Defying gravity's expected laws. The body yields, a landscape overthrown, A shift in axis, starkly, simply shown. No dramatic plunge, no final gasping cry, Just earth embracing what was held so high. What unseen force, what inner tremor stirs, To break the vertical and quell the spurs That urge us onward ever to ascend? A quiet yielding, an unlooked-for end To upright striving to the constant climb, A horizontal halt outside of space and time. Is it surrender, weary of the fight? A claiming of the earth, a yielding to the night That dwells within, a darkness understood, A silent merging with the silent wood, Or concrete plain wherever we may lie, Beneath the vast and indifferent sky? Perhaps a truth revealed in this descent, That all our striving ultimately spent, Will find its level, find its final rest, Upon the surface equally possessed. No higher ground, no vantage point to claim, Just horizontal being stripped of name. The breath may catch, the senses start to fade, A boundary crossed, a silent promise made To the unmoving earth, the steady base, A final reckoning in this quiet space. No grand departure, just a gentle fall, A horizontal answer encompassing all. What thoughts remain as vision starts to blur? Of journeys ended, purposes that were? Or just a stillness, an acceptance deep, As consciousness begins to drift and sleep? This horizontal fall, a mystery untold, A story whispered, stark and brave and bold. A reminder that the journey's upward trend Must ultimately meet this level end. A thought to ponder as we stand so tall, The quiet power of the horizontal fall. ©bfa040825