Poem: Is This Progress?

Is This Progress?

It is not clear
if that place 
can be reached,
if it is possible
to get to it 
from this spot,

it may be
there was a way,
way back there
in an early part
of the journey,
but even if
it were clear
where that junction
had been missed,

it is not at all certain
that a return to that place
would be possible,
if it were recognized.
To go back there
is not clearly an option:
the place and time
have passed, it is

only what is ahead
that can be considered,
and the destination
must not be changed,
is too important,
was the point
of all the effort,
the pressing forward;

the destination cannot
be altered, not without
losing too much, but
it is not clear
how to get there,
not from here, not
now, not for so long
it is not even clear
when it was it seemed
it might not be possible.

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