Is It A Wonder If My Mind Speeds Down Blind Alleys?

[Elina_P]

Welcome to the labyrinth
This can be quite difficult to understand
I'll be as quick as possible

In the center of this intricacy is the light
Lazily spreading out between the passages
Purging the dark
Allowing you to finally see the end
There's no need to run:

Everyone
Gets
Caught
Eventually

Even if the light chooses to stay huddled in the middle
Letting you and all the others blindly run amok
You'll come across it sometime
And you can never be sure when

Your surroundings silent
Until you hear the only warning afforded:
The ticking
The very soundtrack of insanity

Though you probably don't believe me
The new ones rarely do
Convinced that time is fluid and never-ending
Nearly impossible to halt

If I had the time
As choppy as the real thing is
--Animated for the individual moments
Lethargic everywhere in between--
I would watch you creep
See if you hunger to meet the light
Or lengthen the distance whenever possible

Unfortunately (for me)
I much prefer to speed walk among the alleys
--Running is for if and when I decide to turn back--
Hands outstretched
Ready for almost anything

It's better that I can't see
I feel like the truth would leave a scar

No one is supposed to know
About what happens down in that maze
But we were born with that knowledge, weren't we?
That is the one thing we get (relatively) free of charge

If you know the answer
Please keep it to yourself
Paranoid anxiety is such a bitch to quell

Instead I can pretend there is no light
The incessant ticking is not always at the forefront of my mind
Reminding me a point to this must exist
A meaning of some sort
One that I shouldn't have to craft myself

If your reaction to being placed in this maze is to do nothing
You can stand here
Watch the people go by
Those that try to escape can be truly amusing
Racing down one path
Only to decide they want to try another

You see,
They're under the impression
That they can break the walls separating the corridors

Not true
You must go back the way you came

Retread every agonizing step
And become malleable once more

A paragon of futility
Once the light comes a knocking

[DATo]

I like this a lot. Very nicely constructed and circumspect metaphor.

[palilogy]

Hmm not as quick as possible
I think the poem would read better without that assumption.