An Aged, Bitter Collection of Poetry, Prose, & Papers

Play on Shel Silverstien

There is a place where the sidewalk ends

And life begins

I am not a man to be afraid

Afraid of what, you say?

There, where the last paving stone was cast and laid

That is where fear is made

But I am not afraid because I am so horribly afraid

Beyond that paving stone, son,

That is a place none have been

Wild and free, horrible things to be

There are trees and shrubbery

Creatures that crawl and shriek

Sometimes I can hear their screams

Standing alone on the last paving stone

I feel unlike any other person I've seen

I've seen their hope

I've seen their sorrow

I've seen their joy

I've seen their pain

But this, this is exhilaration

For one step beyond my stance is a place unstepped upon

And the breeze that rustles my hair

It beckons me, but I am unafraid, so afraid

And so I return to the sidewalk and trudge back to what is usual

And long for that untrodden place

The same way a child wonders

For I am but a child in this mind of mine

(24 June 2015)