Traveller

When your brain fits into one of the fringe categories
Not neurotypical
Diagnostic criteria met
Following adjustments advised

You can try and listen to some of it
Mellow out
Level off
Stay in the middle

And it’s usually well-intentioned
From people who want you
With grandchildren in your 70s
The peace of a long life
Well lived

And believe me
That’s pretty great I imagine
So if that’s where you are
Enjoy it!

But if you’re pulled in another direction
By what you see
By how you hear
By why you are

If the patterns in your thoughts
Are grooves like rivers
And you want to touch the bottom
Come hell and high water

If your ears are open
To a perfect note
A melody of truth
A joy with no bounds

That’s hard to turn down
Even if some of the waters you dive
Yield no treasure

And instead
Arms of moss
Lichen
Or something worse
Curl around
To drag you down
To a depth from which
No oxygen tank rescue
Is possible

Dive anyway
Because in my experience
The perfect notes
Come after the Leviathan
Not before

And the rescue comes
From something
Less material
Than a tank
Or even oxygen

This road of sweetest sounds
And sea monsters
All together
Winds and breathes
With a purpose that is its own

And often feels illusory
Leaving the traveller in despair
At all the forks he could have taken
Back to the straight road
And its comfort
Its stop signs

But if you’re that kind of traveller
It’s unlikely the straight road
Would have held you for long again
So it’s best to keep moving
And not mind too much
If you’re blessed or cursed