Tunnel Vision

Light at the end of the tunnel ~ 

Optimism:

from news reporters, politicians 

and just about anyone

Pessimism:

‘be careful - it might be a train!’

Reality:

As with any true tunnel there are,

in the narrowed lives we live,~

graffiti and beautiful drawings

rendered by unknown artists,

stories told around kitchen tables

of difficulties, joys and working things out.

hearts with arrows through them etched in trees.

initials painted on the roadways and fences with

dates, time and places letting other travellers

know someone had walked there, 

loved there or sheltered there. 

water slicking down rock walls,

feeding moss growing in the dark.

wind gusts blowing in roadside debris:

dusts of anxiety, impatience and hate

We are not driving quickly 

through this tunnel 

but we are walking ~ 

sometimes hand in hand 

with the person in our bubble of safety.

We have time to stop, 

to get that stone out of our shoe, 

sit against the unforgiving walls 

for a moment to catch our breath. 

There is no rush to get anywhere ~

so foreign to us in our hurry up and wait world 

but with a deep breath ~ even though desperate 

to get out of the tunnelled darkness, 

even though life has become unforgiving

we keep creating our lives.

“Tunnel vision can kill creativity.”

Ami Vitale, 

photographer with National Geographic