The Everywhere Nowhere Parade

At a boulevard well known,
Exhilaration starts with
High step strutting beside fife and drum.

Avenues of sun-drenched colors
Amidst waving flags
Pave the way

Into an endless maze
Where Sousa driven motivation begins marching.

So many dreams there are
At such a young age
Where quantities of anything
Seem large,
Especially inside one's head,
That tiny room where imaginary musings
Create adventures into worlds unknown.

 Stimulation rules
Air untainted,
Sky without clouds,
Roads ahead cleared,
One's aspirations seeming easy,
All for the taking.

What overflowing treasure it is
Until one's mind-questions challenge the direction,
Until one ventures the side streets,
The off-grid wanderings
Past grass and tree,
Beyond flowers and winged escort
Onto unexplored plain,
Spreading toward the ever receding horizon
Where more forks beckon dreams
Dangerously close to mortality's precipitous cliffs.

 Even as one momentarily arrests the flight,
Veering to the right,
Swerving to the left,
As new progenies shoulder forward,
Squeezing tenure tighter,
Rendering passage no longer under cloudless skies,
No longer simple survival
within one's teeny dream room.

Even then…

Limited time never seems apparent,
Until it does,
Granting no respite to reflect.

To feed the pigeons,
Sway amidst the waves of wheat,
Enjoy one last lager.

 For there's little leisure
When the next generation
Longs to parade as well,
Pushing and shoving from the rear,
While the old pulls everyone forward,
Dragging what is left of exhausted dreams
Into destiny's ritual finale.

 How complex it all seems
When one takes the final peek into one’s miniscule room of dreams,
Where imagination once innocent began,

Now faces a reality unknown

In a labyrinth of dwindling exits.