Ticket 2 Ride

Clock hands track fast across the boiling sky

Opportunity fades like a blood-shot eye

The backward spinning of the compass

Locking on the committed purpose

Pointing into the unrelenting storm

Tattered and torn, resistant to conform

Testing the boundlessness of the heart

Not pure or soft just purposely smart

A swan dive to the depth of memory

Engaging nerve reflex and sensory

Briefly stranded in a thunderous rainfall

Caught looking at a blistering curve-ball

Licking open wounds but will not retreat

Quickly retooled determined not to repeat

The new arrivals ask what do you treasure

Without hesitation, what you cannot measure

A tightened grip struggling with all her might

Next person up in this never-ending fight

Mounting toll and rising personal cost

But turning away admits all is lost

Standing alone in the deep growing shadow

Clenching the worn and personal manifesto

Now, more than ever

Stand strong together