Parallel Journey

She had packed her bag earlier,
crammed it full of impatience.
Now that dawn had cleared the way,
she heeded the call
and left far too early.

Biding her time
by just missing trains
strolling the platform
stepping in time
with the clack of the clock
as the digits change
each second between
submerged in the solace of solitude.

Oblivious of all else
and to the passing of time
that day measured by journeys,
by minutes and miles.

The faster travelled
the more left behind,
the more abandoned
to the moment.

Fleeting landmarks
merge to a single nameless place
snapshots on the retina all gel to a single face
humanity observed
in a memory preserved.

The places she visited
the people she met
could not blemish
the distances she set.

The platform from which her journey began
had been laden with the knowledge
of her inevitable return.

No one would have guessed
that she had ever left
as she wandered back
into context.