The mud was soft. Feeling cold,
Too cold to be soft, it slid the same
Regardless.
And the fall,
Longer than I saw again
(when I later returned)
Farther,
Fast and fun, long enough to enjoy, relax
Enough to survive
The landing.
The cave, dark but glowing
In the careful light of my deprived eyes
Rivers rising and falling in the forced night
Stalactites clinging maybe
Falling into the grey.
If you had known,
If any if you had known,
Noticed, felt my absence in the crowd
Heeded my falling away,
You could have joined me
For my time in the cave.
So long, longer than I saw
(when later I returned)
That I had spent there,
So peaceful.
There was a gentle dripping, I remember
And sunbeams, if I did not dream them
And voices, I thought I had imagined
Leading me to salvation.
They died, in the end: alone,
I found my own way out,
An escape forever I regret.