In Hans Ostrom’s “Skylights,” the speaker describes a soul on a kind of quest for light and possibility. It climbs all the way to an attic—where skylights might logically be—but only hits its head on beams and trips over old furniture. The effort is awkward, even painful. Giving up, the soul returns to ordinary life: routine, fear, anxiety, and exhaustion. It sinks even lower, into a basement, feeling desperate. Then, in that dark and low place, it stumbles on blueprints for skylights. The surprise ending suggests that hope or inspiration isn’t always found by straining upward. Sometimes the plan for light turns up when you’ve stopped striving, in a place you didn’t expect. The tone is rueful and wry, with a mood that moves from weariness toward quiet, comic hope.
Skylights — Summary
My soul, in search of skylights, Climbed flights of stairs, Hit its head on attic beams, Fell over cast-off chairs.
It went back down to rooms Of routine, fearful days, Persistent anxious nights, And weary, wearing ways—
Went further—to a basement, To be desperate and low, Stumbled there on blueprints For skylights, what do you know?