Cold Mist

How did you end up here?

Out in the middle of this river

Alone in your little wooden canoe

Watching ethereal mist rise

To shroud your world

In the haltingly beautiful

But cold fog of the forbidden

And precarious future.

You've been on this river for a lifetime.

Paddling with all your might

Through the lethal rapids,

Steering your bow with sober resilience

To rest in the deep green pool

Of hard-earned sanctuary.

You sacrificed passion--

You put your youth behind you

For calm water and clear skies, 

An escape from ghostly mist

And white-crested turbulence

And all the fallen branches that

For so long marred your path.

But you ignored all that,

And left in the early morning 

Forgetting your shoes, 

Carrying every burden

Of your uncharted future 

Onto the silver-curtained river

And its inexorable violent current.