Cross-country

When thrown into an unknown land
like the rest of one’s life,
there are those that make plans,
map their lives accord­ing to
the obstacles to be overcome
(hus­band, chil­dren, house)
and those that stumble through and around,
exclaim­ing in joy at the unex­pec­ted lake
or dismay at a mountain
but never bored stay­ing on the asphalt path;
and those that wanted one, but got the other
and now lan­guish in sweet sur­burban prisons
where the flow of time has chis­elled away
at hopes and dreams leav­ing them
vacant, vague and sadly satisfied.