One Way Tickets

 skin creases like paper as we reach to touch. we chase the silence up its empty stairways. orphans with picnic baskets full of shame. 

frozen by the wolf's stare. stranded 

time's gears turning. our choices caught in its teeth. 

we go into the woods as children. and emerge as villains. transformed by circumstance. curdled by grief.

the distance bites its lip. all our words forget us. 

perspective makes us small. everything narrows. 

until nothing fits. 

the years leave their breadcrumbs. but we can't go back.