Life's Footbridge

A long and winding trail I’ve walked
to get this far,
testing my foothold with each step
upon a cracked foundation.

Stretched like fraying ropes
across the chasm
my heartstrings hold a tenuous grip
on crumbling canyon walls.

Swinging in the wind,
the raging river rumbles far below
like the wheels of some distant train
dashing my hopes away.

Mistakes and broken chances
haunt me with every missing board
and I find myself suspended
half way there. 

Too dangerous to carry on,
too perilous to take the other track,
I close my eyes and find
the wind blows hardest at my back.

Voices in the mist prick at my ears
as trembling fingers grip the void
between the thinnest lines of time
and silently I labour on. 


march 2005
©Janet Reid