The old man walks with a cane
reminds me of the Riddle of the Sphinx,
a riddle no one can solve.
He says, "I think I'll take a walk"
and I wonder how he's not going to fall
staggering like a drunk with a disease.
Will power is stronger than strength
when your hair turns white
and even your skin feels old.

The pregnant lady waits in an airport
at 3 am for a flight anywhere
to escape people who won't listen
and voices that become hangmen's nooses.
She tries to tell herself
the baby doesn't have to take his name,
not in this generation,
yet she's afraid to fall asleep where rules change,
people change, everything changes sometime.

I graduated from college
with a bachelor's degree in English writing.
People ask me why and I can't answer
because the answer's somewhere inside
a lost body wandering; yet not moving
and I say to myself,
some go this way,
some go that way,
and some go no place at all.

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