Prelude to a Runaway

Poem

Prelude to a Runaway

running from
the past
but kept on
its long leash

wearing memories
with such fit,
I forget I have
anything on at all

I’m not sure
how long I’ll run,
if ever there’ll be
a sudden choke

maybe forever,
the past is a kind,
seemingly kind
dog owner

lets me forever roam
with only heated hints,
still so attached
to that home

gone and still
ultimately capable
of stopping me
at any time

so obsessed
with the running,
the illusory escape,

when the more consequential,
real liberating action:

a pause
in the vicinity
of the self
I no longer wish to be
for however many
needed hours

to finally
remove the collar