Should I Run?

A Poem by Fiona Grayson

Photo by Douglas Lopez on Unsplash

I chose a path early in my youth.

Though I didn’t turn around right away,

I realized halfway along,

that this path felt wrong.

Something inside me

told me to keep going,

against my better judgment.

Maybe I do keep going,

for “science”.

What I mean is,

what if I keep going down the path,

with full awareness,

so that I may serve as a cautionary tale

for others in my disposition?

Like a brother so Grimm,

Scaring children out of the woods.

Or maybe I can be a double agent?

A woman on the inside,

To collect data in these woods,

for “science”.

I find myself torn.

Should I run backward?

Or forward in full force?

I know trouble lies ahead.

Those I’ve met along this path,

May think me a traitor.

They will no longer see me,

much less my humanity.

I’m not getting any younger,

so I don’t know how much fight,

I have in me.

But at the end of it all,

I have two choices:

Run the other direction,

and start all over.

Or keep going,

And fight like hell.