and here i sit in a strange
and unfamiliar place
trapped by all accounts
for a period of twenty-one days
of my own volition
much to my chagrin
for as much as i know
my hunger for those strange
and unfamiliar things
i seem to forget that i also
trouble myself with commitment
and while i---
however uncharacteristically---
do not fear the mystery
of these lovely people
or their lovely lands
or what my stay with them
may subsequently entail
i admit i fear those twenty days
remaining, if only for
knowing they are certain
and inescapable
