ladder

A man tips back his chair, all evening.

Years later, the ladder of small indentations

still marks the floor. Walking across it, then stopping.

Rarely are what is spoken and what is meant the same.

Mostly the mouth says one thing, the thighs and knees

say another, the floor hears a third.

Yet within us,

objects and longings are not different.

They twist on the stem of the heart, like ripening grapes.

~ Jane Hirshfield 
from Given Sugar, Given Salt

with thanks to nexus