Charybdis

Struggle as I might I cannot

escape the invisible threads

pulling me ever inwards.

I do not understand them,

not fully, and I doubt I ever will.

Many better than me have tried,

dedicated their lives to the why

and yet

and yet we have made tiny steps

with the mountain still ahead.

We strain against that pull,

dream of halcyon days when

somehow, it might no longer hold us

holding as idols those valiant few

who have mastered its siren song

forgetting what we would be without.

In our lofty ambitions we forget

to be thankful for its restriction

chafing against the very ties

which serve to hold us safe.

We fight the inexorable

like calling to like, calling out

falling towards each other

no matter how hard we fight it

as inevitable as time

an attraction we cannot master.

I'd like to take a moment

to laud such quotidien tyrant

who holds us each in thrall -

although at times an inconvenience

I appreciate stars at a distance

blue skies far overhead

for if not a slave to gravity

I wouldn't be on Earth.