Against the Odds

Against the odds,

With every killdeer playing wounded

And pointing, “Look, out this way,”

Introspection found the primal power

Of the child within.

The world had hung a finely woven backdrop.

The illusion of the drama so textile,

But my world is not a stage.

The passage to my all in all lay hidden

Backstage, and out the emergency exit,

Where, pushing it open,

The blinding floodlight poured

Into my soul.

The very air alive and free,

I find myself announcing,

“In your face, Lemming Mindset from Hell!

I am out from under you,

And happy!”

It only took me 38 years,

But going against the grain produced

A seizing of the day.

-jenn long