Looking For The Path Home Poem by David Taylor

Eyes
to the left,
eyes
to the right,
staring brightly
in the night;
with the running of your thoughts
as on you go
and swiftly walk;
wind up and wind down
twigs break
branches bend;
eyes down,
eyes up
sun sets
as shadows run,
something stirs
turns you round
silence descends then bends,
mind imagines
unkind things;
as eyes
to the left,
eyes
to the right
are staring brightly in the night;

with a hop and a skip
(that you never will forget)
the creeper that tripped
as your footing lost its grip;
breathing
fast, air, that's still,
seething
with a will,
to find the path
that homeward goes
and not the one that winds,
as shadows lengthen in your mind.