big dreams,
 small change

   wanderlust: 

   you can domesticate that big dog
   but the wild yearning  
   for the open road 
   cannot be bred out of his genes.  

   sniffing at the tracks of freedom  
   his instincts urge him to follow  
   but he is made obedient 
   by insufficiency 
   a short leash held firmly 
   by the tight fist of responsibility.  

   his master's voice  
   is not reassuring
   it is not consolation  
   it is imbalance  
   the yawning chasm
   between desire
   and possibility

   the deficit
   between big dreams
   and small change  

   the disparity
   between  
   the bark of have
   and
   the bite of have not  

   the forced choice
   between
   the beaten path
   and
   the road not taken.

   the big dog's ears droop  
   his tail does not wag.    

   he digs holes  
   in the ground of obligation
   and buries the bones  
   of his dead aspirations.    

   perhaps another day, he thinks 
   i will dig them back up 
   and chew on them for awhile. 

   © by Jack T. Marlowe

 

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