subtext

I step between two low trees

onto a small stoop of grey granite

jutting into the emptiness of air

a thousand foot drop to the ground

and twenty miles to the Adirondacks

lurking blue on the horizon like ships

sailing toward some promised land

despite the clichéd romantic vista

to an implied unlimited future

emerging from a convoluted past

one more step in this tableaux

yields fear for with where I have been

and with my dawn blinded visions

one more step propels me toward life