The Walk

I walk through an autumn boulevard
brown leaves lay beneath my feet
their relenting crunch breaking the silence around
silence...off late my favourite sound
I gaze up at the orange skies searching for what I know not
thinking about all the lessons that time has taught
and I come across a dimly lit tavern
sitting prettily across the street
it beckons me warm and welcoming
as if someone there is waiting for me to meet
I keep trying to head that way
but before me my vision sways
I give up too early...too soon
drifting once more towards what I can only vaguely predict...my doom
again the silence engulfs me
forever my faithful companion
and I walk some more, coming to stand by a quaint house with bougainvilleas hanging from its red tiled roof
and from somewhere this feeling grips me
some distant memory of sorts
a little kid staring unseeingly through the window with a stuffed bear in her arms
waiting for some loved one to come home
to tie her hair with a comb.. give her a smile..just once sit for a while
and a tear trickles down my cheek
for the little girl had no one with whom to speak
all these words were there in her head...and all too soon the little girl begins to fade
I try to grasp in a desperate attempt what goes melting away before me
but yet again I find myself in a different boulevard lined with taller autumn trees
So I keep moving on...the kid's sad eyes etched in my mind
and I feel the rustle of leaves as they fall from the trees like floating embers in the dusk
and I see from afar a small gathering of people laughing with icecream cones in hand
tapping their feet to the soft music of a nearby playing band
and all of a sudden rain begins to pour
the happy faces vanishing into thin air!
now with the cheering mirth gone I am left standing saddened to my very core
as the gray skies take pity on me...I lament no more
and my feet yet again keep dragging me into the unknown afore
and I wonder...why is it that I walk these autumn drenched boulevards strewn with flaming leaves?
I guess this afterall is my own hell... where I get one last chance to choose what's for keeps...