The Spiral Stairwell of The Loretto Chapel

Monday, September 8, 2014

The Spiral Stairwell of The Loretto Chapel

THE SPIRAL

STAIRWAY

OF SANTE FE

By

Francis William Bessler

5/1/2002

Dedicated to my friends,

Nancy & Rich Remmenga

Note:

       I wrote the following article and accompanying poem in May of 2002.  I am repeating it now because a brother of mine, Bob, and his wife, Linda, are on their way to see it - though they have visited it before and were impressed.  Bob told me that he has never "felt the presence of the Lord more" than when he and Linda last visited the artwork of this article.  As you will see in my writings below, I, too, was impressed - but probably for different reasons than Bob & Linda.  Be that as it may, here again is a commentary about a wonderful artwork located in Sante Fe, New Mexico.  Enjoy it as you will.  OK?

Thanks!  FWB

9/8/2014

       A few days ago, I saw a “miracle” – a spiral stairwell in a little chapel called “The Loretto Chapel” in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  That which is amazing about this stairwell is that it appears to have no outside source of support.  It stands all on its own. 

       Supposedly, winding stairways can only stand if they are supported by some independent beam – standing either in the middle of a spiral stairwell or to the sides of it.  Only by the presence of some independent means of support can any winding stairway stand.  At least this seems to be the common opinion; however, in the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, there stands a spiral stairwell without any apparent means of support.  It stands on its own, reaching to a choir loft, when it would seem it should fall down because it lacks a beam of support through the middle of it or to the side of it.

       And people stand in amazement and ask, how can it be?  How can a spiral stairway stand all by itself without any means of support?  I could offer a guess or two, perhaps, on how it could be – and I will offer one guess – but this paper is not so much on how such a thing can happen.  Rather, it is why such a thing is happening.  Better put, this paper is one man’s speculation about what the artist who offered the stairwell may have intended by his gift of a spiral stairwell.

       I think there is no such thing as an artist who says nothing through his or her work.  I think it is fair to conclude the one who made the inexplicable stairs about which this article is about was an artist.  As such, he wanted to say something through his art.  And that is what this paper is about – to speculate on what the author of the mysterious stairs without support was trying to say through his work.  He did not ask for payment.  He simply crafted what he did and left without request for compensation.  This one was truly an artist – in a way, one who worked for free; but like all artists, he intended to say something through his work. 

       Did Michelangelo sculpt or paint just for the heck of it?  Of course not.  He was an artist who was trying to share his thoughts and feelings about life through his work.  He crafted his sculpture of David to express his opinion that man – or mankind – is a beautiful expression of God.  He made David beautiful, not ugly, because he saw humanity represented by his David as beautiful.  Through his work and his art, he shared his beliefs – and taught us in the process about the majesty and magnificence of our own being.

       Likewise, the unknown artist of the inexplicable stairs in New Mexico was trying to share his thoughts and feelings about life through his work.  And he crafted a strange stairwell to tell his tale.  I will try to examine his art to understand his tale.

       Unfortunately, an examination of the spiral stairwell artist himself would be almost impossible because nothing is known of the artist.  It is my opinion, however, that we can come to know a bit about the artist through his structure.  If we can’t know an artist for lack of history about him, we can know him through his work.  According to ancient wisdom that is as true today as ever: by their fruits, you shall know them.  Among others, Jesus said it.  So, having his art to study, we can come to know far more about the artist of the inexplicable stairs than we might have thought possible.

A LITTLE HISTORY

       For those not familiar with the story, in the 1870s, a group of nuns called the “Sisters of Loretto,” who were living and working in Santa Fe, New Mexico, wanted a chapel.  Residents of the area had previously built a school for them and the good sisters now wanted a chapel too.  So the residents built a chapel for them too.  It is my understanding that the architect of the chapel, design wise, was the same fellow who had earlier planned the Cathedral of Saint Francis in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

       I am not sure how it was allowed, but somehow the residents managed to build a chapel with a choir loft without any means of getting to it.  Now, I have a good deal of difficulty understanding how that could be, but supposedly it happened.  How can anyone build a loft that is up and then remove the access to it that allowed it to be built in the first place? 

       No matter.  Let us assume that it happened.  In Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the 1870s, the residents built a chapel that had a choir loft without any means to get to it.  Well, the good Sisters of Loretto had good reason to be perplexed by this strange problem.  Given they were ladies of prayer, however, they decided to pray for a solution.  They would pray a novena to the patron saint of carpenters – St. Joseph – and he would find a way to solve their problem. 

       I’m given to understand that some folks about the area tried to build a regularly designed stairway, but for some reason it was concluded that a regular stairway could not be built.  I am not sure why such a decision was forthcoming, but for whatever reason, it was concluded that a regular stairway just would not work.

       Anyway, on the ninth day of their novena to St. Joseph – the final day – out of nowhere there came a “gray-haired” man who offered his services to the good nuns.  He would build them a staircase – though he had only a donkey and a small tool chest, containing a hammer, a saw, and a T square.  Legend has it that he took six to eight months to build the structure he would leave – a spiral stairway – and then he left without any word to anyone.  He simply disappeared into the night as quickly and as quietly as he had appeared several months previous.  No one knows who he was, where he came from, or where he went; and the only evidence of himself he left behind was in the form of a mysterious winding stairway that provided a way to a choir loft.

       The stairway he left behind as a gift, however, is no ordinary spiral stairway.  According to all “ordinary architects,” the only way any spiral stairway can stand is via support of some additional structure – like a beam or pole up the middle to which a stairway is attached.  This one has no such support – and yet, it stands all by itself. 

       What were the residents of the area doing when our wandering artist with a hammer, a saw, and a T square was working?  I guess they were looking the other way because no one seems to know any details of the project – like what did he use as wood for the stairs and how did he put the wood together to make winding steps?  Apparently our generous visitor worked totally in secret, offering no evidence of his being there and not needing any supplies or help for his work.  And then the project was completed and he disappeared, leaving us all to wonder about the details.

       As one who is now “wondering about the details,” my guess is that the strange stairway left behind is not what it seems to be; but that is only a guess.  Supposedly, the amazing stairway contains no nails to keep it together.  My guess is that it is not something that needs to be kept together because it is something that may have been sculpted from a single block of wood rather than pieced together with many pieces of wood.  I must admit that would seem to be as outrageous as the stairs themselves because it implies that an old man could drag a huge piece of wood into the chapel without anyone seeing the deed.  The greatest argument, however, against such a theory is that it should be obvious to those who should know about such things that the stairway was built with pieces of wood or sculpted from a single piece of wood. 

       Given my one little speculation on how it might have been done, however, I am not near as interested in the answer to that as to why it was done.  Regardless of it being many pieces or just one structure that looks like it is made of many pieces, why would anyone choose to build a spiral stairway that winds up and around itself until it reaches the landing up above to which it aspires?

       I imagine that our gentle gray-haired anonymous friend was trying to teach something by what he did.  Now, given that this is so, that he was trying to teach us a lesson through his gift, what could it possibly mean?  What does the notion of  “spiral” say?  Perhaps it is not so mysterious after all.  Perhaps if we understand the notion of spiral, then we can come to understand the stairs – and the one who formed them.  Keep in mind, as a secondary thought, he may not have constructed them as a St. Joseph, a carpenter, might, but he may have sculpted them as a Michelangelo, an artist, might, carving them out of wood rather than building them.  Perhaps the reason the stairs stand without support is due to their being sculpted, not made.  Surely one sturdy, sculpted clump of wood could stand so much more traffic than a composite of woods; but like I said, that is probably a bad guess since it should be obvious that such is so – if it is.

LESSONS OF THE STAIRS

       It is my understanding that from the beginning, after the Sisters of Loretto discovered their stairs “complete” and after they realized that the artist had vanished, the stairs he left them could not be used.  It seems our generous artist left them without a railing, making it somewhat terrifying to use them.  In her exuberance, one of the students of the good sisters’ school, who would later become Sister Mary, climbed the new stairs as excited as a kitten playing with a string; but when she looked down, she became terrified and could not descend the stairs as she ascended them.  She walked up them, not needing a banister to hold onto, but she chose to crawl down them on her hands and knees for fear of falling off of them, having no railing to assist her.

       Well, it was soon concluded that the new stairs must have a railing.  Accordingly, a banister was attached.  Now, this is just fine from the standpoint of safety, but it is quite damaging in terms of being able to study the real art left behind.  The real artwork was finished without banisters; and so, I think, the really important lessons to be derived from the mysterious artist’s work must be related from the original gift.

       So, what does a spiral stairway without railings tell us?  I think the lessons are five fold: 1) Life is Useful, 2) Life is Elegant, 3) Life is Balanced, 4) Life is Complete on its own – without adornment – and finally, 5) Life is Unending.  Now, perhaps one should replace the word “is” in these five lessons with the phrase “should be."  For the artist who made the stairs, the word is properly “is."  For him, Life “is” virtuous as it is - without adornment of railings; but for the rest of us who are intended to be his students, Life “should be” virtuous without adornment of railings.

Lesson # 1 – Life Is Useful

       Any stairs offers this lesson, but it is an important lesson.  Life is like a set of stairs we can go up and down in order to reach destinations and leave them when we are ready.  A spiral stairway is certainly a bit more exciting as a way of ascent and descent, but useful wise, all stairs are that.  It would be to our benefit to not take any stairs for granted, but to be grateful that someone built them to make passage to and from the various residences within life easy.

Lesson # 2 – Life is Elegant

       Any nice looking set of stairs should remind us that life is an elegant affair, but a spiral set of stairs says it more graciously, I think.  Winding up and around as they do offers a dimension to going up and down in life that adds flair to the basic ingredient of useful.  When I think of elegant, I think of not only being useful, but also being attractive, of being beautiful.  Life is beautiful as well as useful.  For me, spiral stairs offer a message that life is delightful or should be delightful.  Ordinary stairs say life is OK, but spiral stairs with their added flair tell me that life is not only OK, but also mighty fine.  That’s elegant for me.    

Lesson # 3 – Life is Balanced

       Again, perhaps I should say life “should be” balanced.  The spiral form of architecture also offers that message.  By winding up and around as it does, it tells us that life should be a thing of movement and variety – a thing of balance.  On a set of spiral stairs, one can go from left to right, automatically, because there is no way around it.  First you are on the left side of a spiral structure, then you go to the middle, then to the right, then back to the left again.  On a set of spiral stairs, movement left and right and to the middle is not an option, but rather a requirement.  On a regular set of stairs, one can stay left or stay in the middle or stay on the right all the way up or down, but on a spiral set of stairs, related to the structure itself, you have to move left and right.

       That which is good about this lesson is that moving left and right – or being moved from left to right -  keeps you from getting static and, perhaps, boring.  Give a bit of flair to your life and do not take it so seriously.  Wander from one place to another, taking in all the wonderful varieties that life has to offer.  Smell the rose, but also take time to smell the daffodil and the iris and the magnolia blossom.  Don’t treat life as if it is one path, but appreciate that it is full of paths – and all of those paths, geographically speaking at least, are members of a single paradise.  Go up in life, but go up with flair.  Go down in life, but go down with gusto.  Enjoy your passage through life by enjoying its tremendous variety.  When you do that, you attain balance in life.  Balance is achieved when you taste of the many fruits of life and realize that, though different, they are all part of the one good life.

       Balance is also a matter of being aware of the glory of detail as well as of the glory of the general.  If I find myself down in mood, and I analyze my attention, I always find that I am attending only to detail or only to the general.  Blind attention to either side of that picture leads to a feeling of not belonging.  If I pay attention only to the detail of me, for instance, and do not allow for the general of those outside of me, then I get stuck on detail.  No one is alone in this life.  We are all part of a great big world.  We achieve balance in life when we act aware that we are part of a whole, and not the whole.  Balance is achieved when we are aware of both our individuality and our own blessedness and sacredness and we are also aware of the blessedness and sacredness of all.  If I get down in life, it is because I lack awareness of some part of the full picture of life.

       Going up and down a set of spiral stairs can remind us that life should be an awareness of the detail and the general.  Of course, we can make it what we choose to make it, but perhaps when we are on the left side of a spiral stairway, we should let it remind us of the need for attention to detail and when we cross over to the right side, we should let that remind us of the need for attention to the general. 

       Of course, too, there are many degrees of balance in life – and a spiral stairway can be useful in reminding us that we need to participate on as many sides as we can.  We need to make money to live, but we also need to be willing to give away what we make to help others too.  You can’t give if you have not made something to give.  So balance in life is achieved when life is used to make a living, but also to help others make a living.  If all you do in life is make money for yourself without regard to pleasing others with it, then your life will be a very one sided affair and you will topple for lack of balance.  We all need to make a living, but we all need to help others make a living too.  That’s a form of balance.

       Perhaps, duty and beauty is another form of balance.  Life should be comprised of both attending to needed, but bleak, tasks as well as to enjoying entertaining events.  The wise in life, however, will find a way to make the bleak tasks also entertaining by being aware of all of life as you work away.  Looking forward to a movie after work can make work go so much nicer.

       Anyway, I think the artist of the inexplicable stairs was trying to offer a sense of balance by his gift.  Be willing to taste of the various sides of life, and find balance in the process.  Personally, I don’t think most of us pay attention to the lesson of balance in life.  Too many of us insist on our way and do not encourage others to follow their ways.  Too many of us insist that we are more worthy than our neighbor by insisting that the time we spend at work in life should be compensated by a greater pay. 

       There is no balance in society when we allow extremely diverse payment for time spent, but we can’t make a law that requires that payment for work is equal because if we did, we would be left without options.  Having no options in life would leave us without balance.  We can’t achieve balance except in having the freedom to do so.  Forced conduct is not balanced conduct; and that is extremely important.  If you can’t go up in life, then there can be no balance between an up and down.  Can there?  Balance – by its very nature – demands freedom; and it is balance in life that I think is the ideal.

       There is such a thing as social balance, too.  If as individuals we get so caught up with individual prosperity and lose sight of common prosperity, the result is social imbalance.  That kind of imbalance can and does lead to terrible violence in life.  In a way, prosperity should be an ideal all should be able to enjoy in life; and when it happens that a good many are lacking in prosperity while a good many others are swimming in it, then it is only a matter of time before the ones who have not will rise and change the rules so that they are not left out.  The result is war – in one way or another – either between individuals or between nations.  I think it is good to keep social balance as an ideal in mind and put forth a lot of effort to achieve it – or else eventually a big price will have to be paid for lack of it.

       Did our gentle artist who made the inexplicable stairs in Santa Fe have all this in mind?  In general, I think he did.  I think he was attempting to teach the need for balance by constructing a spiral staircase rather than a regular up-and-down-without-an-around stairway.  Pay attention to yourself, but also pay attention to others is the bottom line of balance; and I think by swaying to and fro, from left to right, we can be reminded of the need for balance by the medium of a spiral staircase. 

       Of course, we can go up and down a spiral staircase without thought, too – and many would and do – but we can also look at the David of Michelangelo and see only a hunk of rock rather than a beautiful sculpture.  An artist by his or her work can only provide an object to ponder.  He or she is not responsible for making us ponder.  The pondering must be up to us.

Lesson # 4 – Life is Complete

       Perhaps it was necessary, but by attaching a railing to the spiral stairs, the fourth lesson of the gentle artist who formed the stairs has been greatly lost.  All too often we fail to enjoy life for fear of it.  For fear of drowning in a swimming pool, we insist on wearing a life jacket before we chance to swim.  That’s OK for starters, but if we never get past having need for a life jacket in a swimming pool, we will never experience the wonderful ways of a fish either.  Some of us want to have a feel for being a fish in the water – and so for those of us who do, we would have to swim, not only without a life jacket, but also without a swimming suit.

       Our gentle artist made a swimming pool without requirement of life jacket when he completed his stairs and did not attach a railing.  I think the lack of a railing was intentional because he wanted to teach us that we do not need railings in life to keep us safe.  It is nice to be surrounded only with a safety net in this life, but there is a dimension in life we can never experience if we demand protection within that net – and that dimension is a thing called freedom.  Though it was well intended by the good nuns of the Sisters of Loretto, when they attached a banister to the miracle stairs, in a sense, they banned the miracle of them.

       Who looks at those stairs now and sees the original art left to the world by the gentle artist of Santa Fe?  No one!  For the sake of safety, the original art has been lost.  Oh, you can see some of the original work if you look real closely through the attached railings, but for the most part, when you look at the stairs of the 1870s today, all you see is the railings.  All you can see is the banister that was added, not the steps that were first.  Unfortunately, for the sake of safety, the original artwork is nearly overwhelmed by an added banister.  Who can see the original “miracle”?  No one!

       And so it happens all the time in life.  As the good Sisters of Loretto did with the wonderful stairway of the generous gray-haired man from nowhere, so also we do with the wonderful gift of life from the Good God from Everywhere.  We cover it too – for the same reason – for the sake of safety.  But when we cover it, we lose it.  That is the terrible price we pay for safety. 

       Just as behind the banisters of the spiral stairwell in Santa Fe there exists a miracle, behind the banisters of our own lives everywhere in this world there exists many, many miracles.  Life itself is a miracle.  There can be no greater one than that; and yet for fear of being invaded by others, we have sealed off the miracle of life by insisting on wearing a life jacket in a swimming pool.  Now and again, an artist comes along who tries to show us that we should not live so scared; and almost invariably, we fail to hear. 

       Someday, some authority may realize that the reason why we can’t seem to figure out how the stairs in the Loretto Chapel stand all by themselves is because we refuse to look at them.  Perhaps if we take down the banisters and gather about the resulting original stairs, we could see what makes them stand on their own.  The real question is, however, do we really want to find out what makes them stand on their own?  Perhaps our fear of losing a miracle keeps us from believing that there really is an explanation of the stairs.  We do not want to lose a miracle; and so we may well be content to keep it hidden to preserve it.

       And we can continue to follow that course in life – keep on banning life to preserve it – but, oh, what we lose by our decision to do so.  I’m sure the gentle artist of the inexplicable stairwell hoped that mankind would use his stairs to be reminded of the beauty of themselves and not focus on the stairs themselves; but when the railings went up, the focus changed to the stairwell itself and focus on those who use it was lost. 

       How many say, “How wonderful I am!” when looking at the inexplicable stairs?  Very few.  How many say, "How wonderful it is!” when looking at the inexplicable stairs?  Almost everyone!  But I doubt that the gentle artist intended it that way.  I’m sure the gentle unknown artist hoped that people would feel good about themselves when they used his stairs and not focus on the stairs themselves.  By adding banisters to the stairwell of the Loretto Chapel, we changed the focus from us to it; and that, I’m sure, would not sit well with the artist who formed them.

       True artists do not do what they do for attention to themselves, but rather for attention to some theme they are offering via their work.  In the case of the gentle artist of Santa Fe, there is no question about this.  He did not leave any information about himself before just vanishing.  He could care less about being known for what he did.  All he cared about was offering his stairs – and I think the many lessons I have detailed through them.  If someone would have insisted that he attach a banister to his work, he probably would have been as upset about such a thing as Michelangelo would have been if another had insisted on his making his David dressed rather than naked.

       In my opinion, the stairs in the Loretto Chapel should have been left as unadorned as the author of them left them.  I think much was lost when they were “draped” with a banister for the sake of safety.  It is my impression from a recent visit that the stairwell is no longer being used because of some kind of frailty and safety factors.  If that is the case, then there should be no reason why the added banister has to be retained.  Perhaps now that the stairs themselves are no longer being used, the added banisters can be removed.  I hope so – because I think that if this were done, we would learn some things from the structure that we have no idea exist.  By “draping” the gentle artist’s stairwell with a banister, the real art work has been lost; but what can now be lost if the added “draping” is removed since the stairwell is no longer being used?  At least, I think it is a reasonable question. 

       Another of the lessons that has been lost so far by “draping” the inexplicable stairwell with a banister is the lesson of self-reliance.  I think that the gentle artist may have intended that lesson among the many lessons he intended to impart with his work.  An unbridled stairwell should remind us that we should be willing to stand on our own - as the inexplicable stairwell seems to stand on its own.  Having railings to latch onto is fine for safety, but not so fine to learn the great lesson of self-reliance.  The stairs are there to teach us that we can stand on our own – that we do not need crutches to walk, that we can walk on our own, that we can go in life without having to lean on some additional support.

       One of the great failures of mankind, I think, is that we have failed to be impressed with our own divinity.  Michelangelo tried to correct our misperception of our being faulty and lacking in divinity with his carving of David – showing us through David that we should embrace life and not reject it by covering it in shame; and the gentle artist of Santa Fe, I think, tried to correct the misperception of our being weak with the gift of his stairwell.  It was as if he was saying via his stairs – “Hey, you can stand on your own just as my stairwell stands on its own.  It does not need any additional support – and neither do you.” 

Lesson # 5 - Life is Unending

       That brings us to the final lesson of the spiral stairwell of the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Even though any spiral stairwell does, in fact, end – in this case, at a choir loft, the image of its going on and on is quite entertaining, I think.  It is hard to imagine life ending – and a spiral stairwell leaves me with the impression that life keeps going and going and going – around and around and around.  Not only does life keep going, but it keeps going as we are making it go.  It’s like we have no way to avoid ourselves because we keep on meeting ourselves just around the next bend.  There is no escaping ourselves.  The notion of a spiral leaves us without hope that life can be avoided, though we may try to avoid it.  It’s of no use to try to avoid it because we are powerless to do it.  So, if we are powerless to avoid life, we better darn well get our act in order and choose for ourselves that which we like – and not waste time fearing life or doing what we don’t like.

       That image should tell us that it is not smart to do what we don’t like because we will have to continue doing what we don’t like until such time as we stop it.  An image of a spiral, however, does not leave me with any kind of impression that something else will stop me from being me.  If life is like a spiral, the only thing that will stop me from being me is me.  Likewise, if life is like a spiral – and I do believe it is – nothing will allow me to be me but me.  In other words, if life is like a spiral, I am in total control of me.  I think that is a great notion – and a great belief.

       It tells me I have to take responsibility for me because no one else can.  Others may think they can take control of me, but their control is only temporary.  I am the one who will keep winding around and around and around – and others can only be temporary aids or enemies along the way.  In the end, no enemy can control me – unless I choose to be controlled.  And if I choose to be controlled, then that’s a decision I make and will have to abide by until I choose otherwise.

       The image of a spiral for me is that life is unending; and so, a spiral stairwell is very useful in reminding me of that.  We all need to be reminded of that which we believe is important in life – and for me, it is very important that I have a sense that life is ongoing and after this life, there will be another – and another - and another.  If one is comfortable with the notion of going on, then unending life must be as wonderful a notion as possible; but if one is not comfortable with life, I doubt that life on a spiral stairwell would offer any solace.  Would it?

THE LORETTO MAN

       Perhaps, now, we can better describe the unknown fellow who made the seemingly inexplicable stairs that administer the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  By the character of his artwork, we can know him – though we have no name for him.  Let us just call him “The Loretto Man."

       Unless he was a bit of a fraud and did not live as he “preached” through his art, The Loretto Man must have been high on self-reliance.  He built or formed a stairway that reflected his character.  Like he probably was himself, he offered a stairway that stands on its own – or seems to.  He must have been a somewhat colorful man, too, as he offered a product with flair.  Certainly, any spiral stairwell has flair – a good degree of the unusual.  He must have been dedicated to doing what he considered useful in life, too, as he offered something as a gift that was extremely useful – at least in his mind – though I guess the good Sisters of Loretto found his stairs much more useful after railings were attached.

       The Loretto Man must have loved the elegant, too, as he took great pains to leave behind him a very elegant gift – a fantastic and unique spiral stairway. We may not know his name, but through his labor, we sure do know a good bit about him.  Thank you, Loretto Man, for your gift to the world in the artwork of your spiral stairway without a support and the lessons of life it teaches.  It teaches those lessons even if The Loretto Man did not intend the instruction, but I suspect The Loretto Man was quite aware of his providence and his calling when he chose to teach the way he did.  Thanks, Loretto Man!  We appreciate it!

An Ode To

The Inexplicable Stairs (a poem)

Note:

For what it’s worth, I have tried to “imitate”

a spiral form below.  I tried to locate my poem

within a single page for the best effect; but it

may not transpire as such with your pc.  In any case,

enjoy my “creation” as you can and will.

Thanks! FWB

                                   We are told, it can’t be explained –

                                          how the stairs stand all alone.

                                             It can’t be done, it is said.

                                                 It’s like meat without a bone.

                                                   When I look at the stairs, I am amazed,

                                                        but mostly I see a banister.

                                                           The original steps have been betrayed,

                                                                hidden from sight as if sinister.

                                                   The banister attached to the stairs

                                                        is a thing pleasing to the sight,

                                             but what has happened to the steps

                                                 has turned confidence into fright.

                                      We should not rule our lives in fear

                                           and fear to take a chance,

                                             but with rails about the steps,

                                                 we are led to refuse to dance.

                                                   Take down the rails and let us see

                                                       the steps left by an old gray-haired man,

                                                         and then maybe we will learn

                                                             just what he wanted us to understand.

                                                   It is said the stairwell is a miracle,

                                                       and of that I have no doubt,

                                              but no more a miracle than you or me.

                                                  About that truth, we should shout.

                                       So, let us listen to him who made them

                                           and go up his stairs to the choir loft,

                                              there to sing about all of life,

                                                  finally aware of what we’ve lost.

                                                     I’m sure the man who made it says,

                                                         you can stand like my stairwell,

                                                            going here and going there,

                                                                alone and self-reliant, by yourself.

                                                     Let me finish now with my little ode

                                                         to the inexplicable stairs,

                                               by saying thanks to the one who made them,

                                                   to the old man with the gray hair.

                                       Let us stand together on his steps

                                           as they parade around and round,

                                       knowing that as we go,

                                           praise for God and Life will abound.