The Way

For years you dreamed it
The adventure of a lifetime
Promising possibility
Unlikely, even impossible
It floated there
A constant point in the universe
Under which you moved,
Walking the path of the routine
You spoke of it, wrote of it
Always there, waiting
Somewhere in the future
Too far to be real
The days passed
And the dream remained
Until that distant point
Appeared closer
Now visible among your stars,
Lining up at the end
Of a long runway, skyward
Here, you started running
Building speed to take flight
For so long it beckoned you remotely,
Now it was real and approaching
The blurring moments
Moved you along until the time had come
And you found yourself there,
No longer dreaming
Now in it, now walking it
Crossing that threshold where your world ended,
Life slowed to a crawl
And all you expected exploded,
Scattered across a different reality
And you realized you were no longer dreaming
But that too moved along, quickly
The slow holding slipped from your fingers
And moved heavenward
Even while you fell to the earth
Firm ground again
With nothing but the whisper
Of a dream that once was
And then distance placed it
In that constellation of your life
Called memory
As your eyes turned toward the next horizon
And the sunrise of the day you forgot to expect