Jacob's Dream

(After the painting Jacob's Dream by William Blake and Genesis 28: 11-17)

A young man leaving home 

For long years to be gone

Might fall asleep and dream,

His head upon a stone.

A stair appears that bends

In spiral toward the light,

The bright Orb where it ends,

Though he sleeps through the night,

Darkened, below the stars.

Angel in constant motion 

Walk up and down the stairs.

Delight and clear devotion

Make graceful all they do.

The light and dark are bound,

Heaven to all below,

Bright stair and stony ground

In on light joined. In sleep

The dreamer wakes. He sees 

Above the stars the deep

Of Heaven opened. Is

He living, then, his part

Of Heaven's earthly life?

And what shall be the art

By which this sight can live?

Darkened upon the earth, 

He fills with light, is made

A witness to high Truth

And so a man afraid.

His land - this meager sod,

These stones, this low estate -

Is the household of God.

And it is Heaven's gate.

~ Wendell Berry

Sabbaths 2004, I