Where You Go
At first, I wanted
to erase it all
scrape the slate clean,
begin anew.
But the past lingers,
a shadow unshaken,
and old shames whisper
through the cracks.
I mourn what I’ve lost.
The unfamiliar chokes me,
too rigid, too stark.
I crave the gray,
the balance, the bridge.
Because where you go,
you take yourself.
There is no running.
Only becoming.
A beautiful piece of writing read by a man who has just retired from teaching creative writing at college.