Virgin Of The Ladder

I really dig your chiaroscuro
It gives me something I can misconstrue
These sickly martyrs make me feel alright:
They give me something I can live up to

I guess this is where the magic happens:
An epiphany of stone and light?
Blue-collar… of the Madonna
To bring in something from the building site

O my Virgin of the Ladder
Will you be with me when I start to climb?
Gravity I’m overcoming
Nothing doing when it comes to Time

In this year without a summer
When I lost everything I thought was mine
All the pain and the sheeting rain
And I’m sorry baby that was the last of the wine

And I know I can change
But there’s only so much a ladder will do
D’you want an acolyte
That is so scared of heights?
Rung by rung I’m climbing up to you
O virgin of the ladder
Grant me only that I do not fall
Towards the centre of the earth
Ah keep that ladder up against the wall
Oh Virgin of the Ladder
What a pretty gal you are
Maybe a slow climbdown into the squalid town
Light a candle on the way to the bar

It’s laboured as an image
Overused as a metaphor
For spiritual ascension
(Blake and Jacob did it long before)

But you are Mother of the Word Incarnate
But what good are words when you want deeds?
- you need practical KIT
When you’re deep in the shit
And that ladder’s gonna meet my needs
O my Virgin of the Ladder
Will you be with me when I start to climb?
Gravity I’m overcoming
Nothing doing when it comes to Time