poem

Risk

I was playing with matches

When the house burned down.

I was holding my breath

When I passed out cold.

I was saving for a necklace

That had already been sold.

I was talking some shit

When someone split my lip.

I was clutching you tight

When you slipped from my grip.

I was walking on thin ice

When my world cracked

And I nearly drowned to death.

But you can’t lock down and hide,

Watch TV all night, slowly die inside.

Life must be lived, a step at a time,

A forward flinging into the blind.

This is the element of risk.

1/25/21