Poems are often inspired by simple comments or remarks. My good friend, Shawne Park, inspired this one this morning, with a comment he made to my post about the implications of a sign marking the end of a sidewalk the other day. In his words “the road goes on forever, and the story never ends”. It occurred to me that everything actually does end for a single human. But, over the vastness of time, will there be a lone, solitary human who exists at the end of time? Are all roads unending?

I walk the road,

staring at the pavement,

oblivious to the beauty around me.

I feel the breeze

passing through the bushes and trees,

on its way to me.

The pain in my back

and joints

reminds me that I am brittle,

and that someday I will break.

But, the road goes on forever,

unimpressed with my journey.

I try to remember

the first steps I took,

and the beginning of the trek;

but I can’t recall what I felt,

or what I was thinking

when there was no pain,

when there was no breeze.

What if I had strayed from the pavement?

What if I had walked

on the grass?

What if I had taken a detour

along the way?

Would I have been able to find the road again?

I passed so many signs,

some in bold letters

and some hidden by bushes

that required a closer look.

I wonder whether some of the signs

would have changed my path.

The slower I walk,

the more I wish I had

taken the time

to alter my path.

The pavement was the easy way

to walk into the future,

unencumbered by distractions

and choices.

Now, I know

that no road goes on forever.

It just feels as if they do. .rickpensivepixio