Breathe in the Now
by Odin Roark

On the path,
many try to keep pace ahead
of the lamented past
one wishes to move on from.

Finding inordinate shadows
‘til the moment of striking
is the sometime predator strategy.
choosing to slither unseen with poisonous tongue,
ever hesitant to retreat.

Enter time and space…

The provider of measure,
that perpetual start gate and finish line
awaiting its next challenge.

Of the present…

Many footsteps arch and hold,
daring not to step into today’s razor- edged macadam star’s method of escape,
its surreal shards of rock jutting through the sticky lair’s marble surface,
affording little escape from the more dreaded
bramble-pillars of restriction.

Little wonder…

At least for the time being.
knowing the threatening marauder forever follows,
we suspend our flight of change,
forestall a projection to the future
where all was assumed safe and warm.

Yet…

To not allow one’s footsteps to begin their descent,
invites shadow’s next persuasion of the past,
motivating fear’s tomorrow,
quickly becoming another yesterday.

Serpentine’s disguised shadows may always exist,
but knowing to breathe in the Now,
is to make room for the next Now,
and the next,
and the next,
endlessly leaving the nemesis of fear
in its own shadow of precedent time.