America is a country suspended
in state of ambitious adolescence.
Begrudgingly she inches towards maturity,
forging a harshly hewn path
fueled by her own reckless abandon
and cloaked in a veil of ignorance,
which at once shelters and threatens to catch fire.
With every carefree, confident stride
she propels herself closer to the
threshold that divides
before and after.
A foreign terrain,
existing only in the reality of others.
Averting her eyes from a frontier so
vast and infinite,
she convinces her gaze to rest at her feet.
As she takes each step
she is only concerned with the present,
each moment passing so quickly
it is impossible to break through the surface.
Gravel scurries off the edge of a great cliff
as her body commands her to a halt.
Wind takes hold of her veil,
momentarily unfurling it before her,
then replacing it at her sides –
revealing a brusque preview
of the ominous canyon before her.