A Swing That Won’t Stop Swinging

My fear would be

A swing that won’t stop swinging

A lone swing

On a quiet playground

Going back and forth
With nothing to stop it

And no wind

And no reason

To sway

The swing would whip

This way and that

Get caught up

In its own rope

The slide would stay put

The jungle gym empty

The merry-go-round

Would do a turn

Then stop

And never start again

But the swing

Will keep swinging

Up and up

But never over

The tension

Of it

Bursting past

And down again

Never achieved

Just high and in limbo

Trapped in the wide open

Left to stay aloft there

Until somebody

Lets it fall

And when it does

It doesn’t drop

The way it should

Stumbling to the right

It bounces up

And back again

Like bungee jumpers

Trying to give itself

A rattle

I sit in my house

Across from the playground

And try to pretend

It’s just sitting there

Dormant

Not in any kind

Of distress

But finally

I have to break

Racing across the street

I notice the empty wind

The stillness

But all the while

The swing ricochets

It damages the calm

When I get to it

I grab the ropes

But it lashes at me

Cutting up my palms

With blistering thread

With no other choice

I sit on its plank

And as soon as I do

It shoots up

In a forward direction

Nearly sending me

Out across the playground

Past the sand

And the spot

Where the pavement

Begins

Then pulls back

And shows me

The bottom

From a point

At the top

My legs slide down

And nearly off the plank

But then we’re down again

My hands sweat

My mouth opens

But only cold air gets in

I want to let go

I want to drop

I want this to be over

There’s no reason

For the push and pull

The rope should snap

The plank should break

The corridor I find myself in

Should expand far enough

So that I can at least

Go in a circle

Or some other kind of shape

That doesn’t feel so pointless

So limiting

So trapped

I get to the peak

Of the swingset

And with everything I have

Push myself

To bring forth the energy

To take me

Over the bar

And once I do

The swing stops

It deposits me

Back on the ground

Softly

As if it had never even

Moved

An inch