Anticipated Tomorrows – #poetry #2020aprpad

Prompt: write a future poem

Anticipated Tomorrows

An expectation is a cruel mistress
traps you in a web of lies
a vortex so deep
you can no longer see the sun

I want to help you
to rid you of wishes & desires
you will only disappoint yourself
no one else raises the bar

but you anticipate, anticipate
anticipate the outcome
hedging all your bets on a future
that may never come

I beg you
live only for today
but you can’t, can you?
the future’s bright, they say

until it isn’t
and you tumble & fall
grasping at slate walls
black & splintered shards

cries echo through cannons
& of course, I save you
your gratefulness lasting but a day
’til something shiny flashes by

Off you go, chasing rainbows
the next great gamble
& I wonder, are those pins & needles
worth the scars?

©2020 Lori Carlson. All rights reserved.