game over

as i child,
i received
a chinese jumprope,
adequate length
to stretch
and encompass
the legs of
a companion,
in tandem,
enabling another
close chum
to jump.

a slap
to my face,
far in the sticks,
i had no
girlfriends
anywhere near
close enough
to make
owning such
a rope
worthwhile
in the least.

decades later,
twice shy,
i feel as if
this same rope
ties me to
more than i
bargained for,
hopelessly
connecting me
to a less than
likely bunch
of bullshit.

i wish now,
to remove
my trapped legs
tight to slack,
forsaking
all others,
as they fall,
while i retreat
to a shady spot
to play
cat's cradle
in solitude.

I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.  We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers.  ~Henry David Thoreau, "Solitude," Walden, 1854