I just wrote a poem. The first in a very long time. I'm amazed at just how much life this run takes out of us. We have had the mother of all bad weeks, and now we won't even get a chance to go home and re-set. I worry that this horrible week will just drag on.

I'm free only when I close my eyes.
Then I am unbent and unbroken.
There is no pain nor old regret
And no one is cracking a whip
Insisting that I should be there
by this time and in this fashion.

When I close my eyes I am free
Still young and full of naive hope
With all my life lain before me,
Full of good times, women and song,
Whispering "Relax, come and play,
Time and death will never find you."

But today my eyes are open wide,
My head hurts and my body aches.
I force myself upon unsteady feet
And look to the horizon, lamenting
That while this journey is not finished
It is at least half run.

And in the end it will not lead me home.

1/9/2005 02:51
Bedford Park, IL