The Familiar Road

The air grows cold around my sodden feet
I'm barefoot, outside, the moon making darkness obsolete
The night completes the day after endless hours of sopping weather,
and still the clouds remain grey and hovering like a floating feather
caught in the forever wind.

Splash, splash! Splish splosh, the feet pounce out of the puddles
They spill droplets of murky water onto the pavement,
onto the blue blades of  grass, onto the dirt where an inevitable muddle displays.

I'm running around in circles,
and my mind is asking for an end,
but I know if I continue the dizzying course of this labyrinth
I'll eventually find the impossible escape
that I seek even while slumber overtakes consciousness.

The people dance in rhythm with me,
some in a rhythm against me, stepping on my toes
But a balance is kept as I try as gracefully as possible to waltz
out and around these obstacles,
because I will not be forced to take a seat and watch the world pass me by
on this dance floor.

The air calms to a steady wind against my skin
It's cold, I know, and I cannot help but feel the effects of chagrin
The shame feasts on my legs that advance the journey I wither upon,
because I worry I'll never achieve the finish line by dawn
where the goal has officially been set.

I trip over the rocky ground that I've traveled many before
There's a wonder of where I'm actually headed,
where I'll end up, where I'll finally meet the accomplishment of freedom.

But I find I must be honest to myself,
What am I running from?
not the predicament of a negligent life but a life of negligence
Life itself, one must know,
because life is filled with carelessness and fault that everyone must deal.

The speech and the thoughts of the world surrounding
have portrayed the truth of a jumbled mess
And while life will never be fair,
You take what you are given without complaint
and send sympathy to those who are gifted worse, and never run away
from a life acceptable to live.