Circumstance (4 M2Ra)

Silenced By Circumstance

This place did not come to me, nor this life
take me victim in vulture talons; I
made choices that led me here—with one eye
open to truth, the other to dream. Strife,
constant companion, held no killer’s knife
to my throat—no threat levied against my
health or life or freedom. Still, asking why
seems less absurd as circumstance and life . . .

go on beyond control, haphazard and
riding me like the white waters, rafting
toward Lethe and wondering whose fell hand
steers this rudderless craft—or is grafting
me onto new vines that I may withstand
bitter vintages up to true crafting.