May 17.24: Coping, but barely

May 17, 2024 by Oddment 31 Comments

The one-way path

 

The one-way path,

don’t walk too fast;

you’re leaving forever

the gilded past,

life on wheels,

kaleidoscope

of people, places,

dream and hope.

Up those stairs

and through that door,

the future is

what’s gone before.

Unpretty inevitable

lives inside

where you will share

life’s eventide.

At edge of entering

stolid manse,

you’ll pause and turn

for one last glance,

but all there is

is wistful air

and no one will know

it was ever there.

And so you open

and step inside

where love and fear,

conjoined,

abide.

The windows are glass

yet no one will see

the unfolding of time’s

reality.

 

 

With thanks to Teagan R. Geneviene for the image,

submitted to Dan Antion’s

Thursday Doors Writing Challenge.