The Time for Waiting is Completed

I wait
        but the time for waiting is completed
Yet I stay
        though staying is not needed

I linger tinker toy play
Yet have a longing to get away

        Still I wait
I fidget fumble kick and grumble
        Still I wait
like a baby bird at the edge
                 wings untried
                 why oh why
                          should it fly?

So I wait
        but the work has long been done
Yet I stay
        when long ago I should have gone

I am edgy restless snappy tense
        The air is clear
        The air is cool
        The breeze is fresh
        I sit and stew

I wait
        but the time for waiting is completed
But I stay
        when leaving is needed

But where to go?
                I don't know
        The world's immense

I am lost
        unless I stay
But I am lost
        right here

I've lost my way
                  my nerve
                  my drive

I want to have arrived

        But where?
I have no map
                  and anyhow
        it would be out of date
                  borders have been changing fast
                                             of late

So I wait

I wait
        but the time for waiting is completed
what is needed
               is
                       to
                               go

                               and go
                                     on

Elsa

June 11, 1998

© copyright Elsa Schieder, 1998, 2024, all rights reserved

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