Explore "The Ladder" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Unto each mortal who comes to earth / A ladder is given by God, at birth, / And up this ladder the soul must go, / Step by step, from the valley below; / Step by step, to the centre of space, / On this ladder of lives, to the Starting Place.
In time departed (which yet endures) / I shaped my ladder, and you shaped yours. / Whatever they are-they are what we made: / A ladder of light, or a ladder of shade, / A ladder of love, or a hateful thing, / A ladder of strength, or a wavering string. / A ladder of gold, or a ladder of straw, / Each is the ladder of righteous law.