The places I don't want to go

[Deleted Member]

Sell it to me, so sweetly. Describe

the surrender. The relief. The freedom

of letting go all that is me, and giving it 

to you. The safety in having your strength

to lean on, your hand to guide. Mould. 

Shape. You shine a light on the way ahead,

and I see the gleaming bricks of the yellow

road. It’s all downhill, you whisper. 

Follow it, let your feet guide you. They know

the path. As I walk, eyes on the distant

horizon, my jacket slips from my shoulders. 

My handbag crashes to the ground, spilling

wallet, car keys. A tube of lipstick rolls into 

the verge. Between one step and the next, 

my feet are bare and I can feel the sharpness

of stones beneath me. The hard, 

unyielding truth of the road. The wind is cold

and it reveals to me that I’m naked. Open.

***. I’m almost there, I know it.

But then the cracks appear in the road. Vines

creep out and tangle around my ankles.

Thorns pierce my skin. The way is now 

a trail that thins into nothing. I turn around

and see the journey home is all uphill.