We all have within us
some Captain Ahab
obsessively pursuing
something, someone
unattainable
physically or mentally
we quest something lost
never obtained
hadn’t the courage or
stomach for
a diem you could never
carpe
uselessly we quest a time
we came close
nagging should haves
gnawing what ifs
Crimes of passion
not worth prosecuting
each an intensely personal
no-two-alike fingerprint
‘one that got away’
we imagine our prey
sporting our broken-off
harpoons
festering wounds
unbeknownst to us have
scarred over
healed entirely
never went deep enough
scabs that quickly fell away
still we pursue
irrationally with purpose
a creature from the
depths of then
only breaking the calm
surface of now
when it suits us to be
on the hunt
“…to the last,
I grapple with thee…”
parting words uttered
in reply to no one,
the one
the one that got away
cannot let you go if
you don’t
reciprocate
hunter, hunted,
haunted.
– Mark L. Lucker
© 2019
http://lrd.to/sxh9jntSbd
Ponderable polemics, poetic 