Wilderness
We’re lost in the wilderness,
Us three.
We can hear one another if we call loud enough,
But there are
No visuals.
Just thick green trees, all around,
One path,
Narrow and overgrown
Covered in vines and brush
Leading to
You know where.
I want to see you,
Dad.
I want to comfort you.
Reach out and hold you.
But you’re in another place now
Yet still here.
I feel far away
From everything.
From the city, from God, from love.
I exist only in this forest
On this path.
Where this trail goes there is no return.
Yet I want to know
How you feel.
I call out to Mom in the foggy forest
And she yells back,
‘I’m here.’
But she sounds so distant.
A hundred miles away.
This is the painful heroism of humanity.
What Camus and Kierkegaard wrote about.
This moment before the light is extinguished
Is all we have.
The candle flickers
And it’s gone.
I like it
I believe your father will be walking right by your side, in spirit, and he is damn proud of you.