Finishing the Race
a breaking-up poem by ELise

one night i heard voices
dark shapes in my head
i slammed shut the gates
and left logic for dead

i chose my social status
over my mental ease
a persistent conscience
uttered endless pleas

an exchange of barbs
put the mud in my eye
i beheld the simple truth
embraced it and cried,

"No more will I dawdle
In your infantile gaze !
I'm out of the forest
And free of this haze !"

freedom ensnares me
i'm drunk on this space
i fought off your fight
and finished the race