to the students gathered on the concourse
I want to run into their midst
tell them to stop what they’re doing
ask if they’re truly happy
or whether they wouldn’t rather
be hiking in Colorado
or taking a rickety bus over the Andes
teaching English in Tokyo
or working on their paintings
in a rundown studio in New Orleans
I want to tell them these things
because I wish someone had
shaken me awake
when I was their age
told me to make a run for it
that the walls look high but can be scaled
that there is more to life than this
that in the end you will have to live with
even the choices you don’t make
14 February 2013
Auburn, AL
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