Unsteady Crossings

By Gauri Bansal

A bridge won’t last long 

on a river run wild

it takes so long to tame a ghost

it takes forever to tame a child

and though I am stronger

I’ve come to find

that my limbs 

cannot hold my mind

and when I am in a place so low

I wonder if I only age

but never grow

my roots extend

barely even to my tombstone

a weeping willow

in flesh and bone. 

 don’t reason with me

that you must cross-

I’ll break into waves-

I'll turn and toss-

 drive myself insane

So don’t bridge over a rabid river

it's of no use alas!

the crumbling wood

won’t let you pass.

By Gauri Bansal