after thirty years

of shirking responsibility

and

playing with fire

where only the

fallen inhabit

i find myself

amidst the angels

of security

i’m not sure

i can grow the wings

to keep up in the sky

papers flutter around me

but no longer the words

i have written

but the phrases

of a bureaucrat

who tells me it is time

to face the facts

to find the beat of

a different drummer

but somehow

a smile breaks through

the tears