Party Favors For A Roller Skating Party

- and now a few steps
wall to wall, these steps

up or down for those, and then left

if not right,
from the wall at the bottom of the wall
up to the seventh threshold,
from anywhere to anywhere
up at the crossroads, where

converge and then disperse your hopes,
mistakes, pains, strains,
purpose and new hope.

A street after another, but
no return.


Accessible only what is in front of you
and there, a mo 'comfort,
curve after curve,
amazement and wonder about, and views of
view.

You can decide where to be or not to be
jump, jump so as not to be missed.

So from here or here, perhaps
there,
by instinct, intuition,
by reason of bias,
blindly
for intricate shortcuts.

through rows of file
corridors, doorways, quickly, in time
because you have limited time, from place to
place until many
still open, where there's joy, though the pain is almost

nearby and elsewhere, here and there, in another place

happiness and misery everywhere
as parentheses within parentheses, and so
and is suddenly off a cliff,
a cliff, but a jumper, a jumper
, but shaky
but only because there is another.

There must be an exit,
is more reliable.

But you do not seek it,
she is looking for you, she is beginning

you chase, and the labyrinth

is nothing if not yours, as long as possible,
yours, as long as it is yours,
escape, escape.

W. Szymborska