Life is understood backwards

but has to be lived forwards

Søren Kierkegaard

 

When he looks back on his life

he will see that the best of it

was a journey he took from A to B

on a wire between two buildings –

 

his every breath a distillation

of what it meant to keep your nerve

and hold steady, each muscle

braced and quivering like the wire itself

 

which, at a distance, was no more

than a filament, but close up

was a hawser along which he took

illicit steps, knowing his future

 

weighed upon them and all things

were simple, once the choice was made,

however the pole teetered

or the air roared wildly

 

above a world of chairs

and carpets, dates and deliveries,

or the cops who stared amazed

at a man walking across the sky

 

whom later they cuffed

and cautioned apologetically

before asking him politely his name

and a few relevant details.