Awake My Soul

The trees were thick with new spring buds,
Hitting the man as he walked along the hidden trail
He strolled along wondering, if this was reality or if he was still in a dream.
The dream he always had, of going and going, never arriving anywhere significant, and never leaving a place worth mentioning.

Every day he would walk along this lonely trail.
No people, no animals, no civilization.
Just man and the wide open air, free to do what he wanted, when he wanted.
But he didn't. He'd walk...and walk. Bound by invisible strings.

So this puppet would continue down this trail of what is expected.
Then one day he came upon a fork in the path, identical.
But which one would he take? How could he know where either went?
There plastered was a sign, "Once you choose, you cannot come back."

He stood there, breathing heavily and looking somewhere inside of himself for the answer.
But there was nothing there, no answer. Just emptiness.
There was no one there to tell him what to do.

So what is a man to do when faced with a decision that holds unknown consequences?
What any other person would do
He closed his eyes and asked an invisable person for an answer, pleaded for a response.
Out of the underbush came a woman. She grabbed his hand and said, "Come this way, my darling. You will find that in which you seek."

And the puppet followed.

Down the left trail they went, hand in hand, walking along briskly.
As the trail continued it widened into a road, lined with dead trees and broken hopes.
The lady began to chuckle, tugging at the man's hand harder and harder.
And the puppet simply continued to walk beside her, for he'd rather be in a land where anything wonderful was lost with her, opposed to the possibility of walking alone infinitely 

It was not until it was far too late that the man saw his mistake
Walking along this barren piece of countryside, he realized he could never be happy here
Even with human interaction right beside him.
With this realization the man was whisked days back in time, until he had returned to the fork in the trail.

Without hesitation, the man walked down the right-handed trail.
He found himself walking and walking...no different then before.
The surroundings were the same luscious spring trees
The dirt path was slightly hidden from wear and tear.

A clearing was visible just beyond the trail, and that is where the man went
Simply because there was no other way to go
Beyond the clearing was a cliff, over looking a large lake. And on the other side of that lake was normality.
It was his 9-5 job, his wife laying in his arms as they fell asleep, and their kids jumping in after bad dreams.
His dog that had to be walked every morning and night
His email and voice mails that were constantly being checked.
Across that lake was this puppet's comfort and regularity.

But how could he get there? He couldn't go around
And when he turned around to go back, he found that there was nothing left.
No trails or trees, no wear and tear or odd woman coming from nowhere.
All that was left was a ledge like the one behind, and a view of his life stretched out in front of him.

So here this puppet stood
On an island of indecision and difficult choices
Tormented by the one thing in which he longed for the most
But would this journey continue, or would he stand on this island until the end of his time?

He collapsed to his knees, the strings giving slack to allow this breakdown.
And the poor little puppet cried and screamed. Screamed for rationality and his society.
He did not want to stand on his own
And begged the puppet master to pick him up and guide him in the right direction.

But the strings did not move, they remained.
An obvious sign that the master no longer knew what to do.
Or had made the choice that this man was to remain alone
With his loves and life mere miles from reach.

All of us are just waiting to live. Waiting and waiting...
Very few are living to die. As contradictory that sounds,
Optimism and pessimism mixed into an ironic shake,
Too many would have remained on this island of loneliness and safety...waiting and waiting. 

As the man lifted himself off the ground, he pondered how long he'd be waiting.
How long would society keep slack in his strings, how long would it take for change?

With that thought on his mind and sudden courage in his heart,
The man hurled himself over the ledge of the cliff, falling down into unknown waters
And although he knew not what laid in store, death or life
He was finely freed of his puppet strings.

He was finely living to die.