I Tried to Stop for Life
Paul Burgess
About the Author:
Paul Burgess is the sole proprietor of a business in Lexington, Kentucky that offers ESL classes in addition to English, Japanese, and Spanish-language translation and interpretation services. He has recently contributed work to The Road Not Taken, Blue Unicorn, Light, The Orchards, Snakeskin, The Ekphrastic Review, and several other publications. https://paulburgesswritingandlanguage.blog/
“I Tried to Stop for Life”
Although I tried to stop for Life,
she wouldn’t let me pause
but opened Earth behind my heels
exposing hungry saws.
She fit me with a saddle next
and hitched me to her coach
then forced me down to crawl around—
a cross of man and roach.
I hardly moved ahead enough
to keep the blades of steel
from doing more than splitting shoes
or puncturing a heel.
Whenever, having borne too much,
I’d lie on sawing ground,
She’d conjure up a paradise
and have me look around.
She’d vow we’d reach the scenes ahead
if just we kept our course,
then give a cheerful “giddy up”
to me, her human horse.
But every step upon the road
would see the goal recede
and move me further off the path
of other things I need.
“Though better days may seem so far,
your time to die’s not near,”
she said, perhaps, to calm me down
but only stoked my fear.
Then Life revealed the awful truth
I wish had been a lie:
those saws could mangle flesh and limbs
but never make me die.