I wandered a million roads tonight,

each with their own agenda, still looking with the same

hope, love, need for survival, desire to know

just what might be ahead of this slow train of actuality.

A sea of humanity,

always at every turn,

miles away from my own comfort zone,

playing out life in a slow, independent fantasy,

sharing coffee, maybe lunch, buying tokens,

some try to look like one,

while others play the game of anonymity

hoping to just be passed by,

while still others have a constant need

for scrutiny that later they’ll complain is far too great

a burden that takes away their own meaning of

self-sacrifice.

~

People talk about this gaffe all the time,

sidewalk cafes with their best friends, companions,

at the end of the bar during cocktail hour,

perhaps in the intimacy of one another’s arms while love-making.

Each and every one of us speaks to the truth,

yet we always have this need to redefine what it truly means,

at that moment,

that particular pause, when our personal indictment

upon socially acceptable or solemn classic oddity

becomes the norm.

We are then faces that intermingle with one another

in our own hypocrisy.

Rather than feed the beast, quiet the growl,

engage and thrive within your own,

human race.