Dissent

A study in the paths
That have brought me up to now:
Sign posts of funerary use;
Of mourning for what was


Solitary exposition
Writings in the sands
Memory of fading "maybes"
Smoking up the mirrors


The tale to tell is one of "soon"
Of "later", "once", "eventual"--
The lee of all my hopes diverged
The yellowed dear investments


My step falls light on heavy times
No longer wishing to move forward
All the journey by your guidebook
And here I stand: I've failed


Creeping on this weathered page
My story of doing as told
I turn to see a precipice
And dare to think descent


From all the well-trod, failing paths
From all the misspent currency
Of youth never repaid with interest
Potential was waste realized


If I am writer, sage and author
Of my own details,
Let it be said I deviated
To savor every page


That you could never read.