There was a time when the path I walked was wide.
The cliffs on either side were far away.
As the years have passed, it has narrowed.
Now my sneaker clad feet are at the brink,
Toe to yellow line.
How easy would it be to fall?
I’m afraid to find out.
I’m afraid I’m about to take the final step.
My heart beats a fast tempo in my chest as I pass another lost soul on the street.
How long ago did he step off the ledge?
He hasn’t found a way back up to that narrow road he left behind.
Has anyone?
I glance behind,
To see both strange and familiar bodies that walk along their own paths.
How wide are their roads?
Can any of them see the way my feet hug the edge?
My eyes travel back to the abyss below,
And morbid humor takes hold.
No one can guess, no one can see, no one can feel.
If I fall, I fall alone.
Why do I find pleasure in that?
Maybe because I know….
I know in this world we walk alone.
Even as we hope, we yearn, that another human, if only one, will fit their soul with ours.
Even as we know it’s a lie.
We live, we fall, we hurt, we die.
Alone.
The humor, the pleasure fades.
I don’t fear death but I fear the fall.
I fear this life because I fear myself.