The Road Ahead

The Road Ahead - Nishka Bijumalla (Oswego East High School, Twelfth Grade)

I am a divided meadow,

which is to say,

once open, vast with peace,

now split where roads press into the earth,

with cold lines slashing through the soil.

Blades of grass, once swaying in unison,

now twist and scatter,

as the land strains to remember.

The past was a petty promise,

which is to say,

once held tightly, now undone.

I followed its path like a worn trail,

but it led nowhere.

Now, it lies in fragments,

too broken to mend.

Still, time is a gentle drum,

which is to say,

it does not rush, but it does not stop.

Its rhythm hums beneath my feet,

pulsing even where the earth is broken.

It carries me forward,

one step,

then another,

until the past becomes only an echo.

And so, I walk.

I do not look back.

The past fades,

the road ahead unfolds.

The wind moves gently now,

and the ground is mine to claim.