The Price

I saw her again today.
A fleeting glimpse
of wind tossed hair
and lithesome limbs,
    just beyond my reach.

I thought that I had lost her
when youth’s exuberance
yielded to convention;
sacrificed to avarice
    frivolity and freedom.

I remember well
her abandon; her recklessness
racing along that path 
of willful independence
I never could quite navigate,
    checked by moderation’s reins.


I see her now and then,
slipping between the bars
of my self-made gilded cage;
chasing after bartered dreams                   
    and wonder if I’ll ever feel
    so vital and alive again.