Tempestuous travels

Pathways (soft pastels on rough paper)

A maze of forking pathways,
Life stretches ahead.
A myriad crossroad mastheads
brandish obverse pairs of byways.
This for gamblers, that for the civil,
Yet unsure which’s up- or down-hill.

A lifetime along splitting tracks,
most one-ways; a lucky few with detours.
Scented boulevards, wilderness obscure;
lonely cobbled alleys, tempting trails of knick-knacks....
What lies beyond? We clamor for the unknown,
to spring and winter oblivious as we walk the step stone.

Risking choices of risks-no risks,
must-must not; will-will not;
mental parkours**, battles fought,
trudging along in grudging armistices.
Nothing ventured, nothing lost,
war or peace-here both wreak holocaust.

And so seasons go,
wearing tracks after bisecting tracks.
All but two paths are undivided tarmacs-
option less, a single decree bestow:
The predetermined course of Chance
and Death’s defiant petulance!

-November 2009

** Parkour- The physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle in one’s path in the most efficient way possible.

Parkour