They had rushed to find me, suspecting,
But they couldn’t be sure
No more than I.
For though my purpose was clear, I was thwarted on every turn
First by my legs, which failed me
Then by others, flocking to the same place but a different end
And finally, 10 meters from my objective
My mind gave up.

And so I wandered, entranced and enraptured,
From exit to entrance and exit again.
Around me sounds blurred
To a grey rushing river —
I saw little
Only my feet as on I trod
To some ineffable finality.
Who can say?

For the next hour found me sat
A rock in an ocean of people
Drawing glances and glares
From the sympathetic and busy,
My eyes fixed onwards
Seeing nothing, and my body
Exhausted, frozen, dead.

There they found me, my guardians, my stewards
My poor beloved
I could not even thank them when they did.
Tears streaming down the face of one,
And fear streaming down the other
They took me, and held my broken person
And whisked me to safety.
I could not thank them.
I could not tell them what happened
Nor why
I loved them, and every atom of me
Ached to tell them so
And yet
It would not come.

Still I sat, gaze unyielding
Body unmoving
As my saviours, now themselves
Safe, erupted.