Once, I thought long, far too long, too hard
upon possibilities, potentialities, predicaments—
a weighing of costs, benefits, catastrophes,
time lost, opportunities gained. Things, they
seldom appeared as conjectured, and I lived
perpetually in (un)certain fear, until, happily
(in retrospect), everything collapsed—
the castle burned
the slipper shattered
the dragon devoured
its tail
the wicked witch went
west
the knight dismounted,
set his horse running free—and ever
since, I’ve lived more in the now, less in the after.
© 2022, 2024; first appeared in print in The Quarter(ly) – Vol. IV: ENDS (2022)