To Remain

A poem

Photo by Alex Holyoake on Unsplash

And now is the time
I wish to leave —
like a pup snatched up
by the nape of its neck —
a rapturous tug to remove me
from these hard days now.

A life lived bravely is often
a life from which one wishes
to be excused — but were there
a lever to yank, and were we
to choose to exit the present,
we’d hit the top of the pulley
and the silence of space
and the cold absence of participation
would have us begging
for the turmoil of living
at eye level.

No — better to bite your lip
and dig your toes into the bloody soil
of your current complications
while your spine
still has some wick
left to burn.