No Place to Run

by Tom Mueller

I wake at night, a panic I flee
Some stray thought has frightened me

My brain is thinking and filing the day
I’m asleep, yet part of the fray

My heart starts pounding, my skin grows wet
It’s something unseen my mind can’t vet

I’m falling, I’m losing, I’m running behind
Mostly I fear the end of my time

I’m running from something that finds me at night
I’m tired, exhausted, not geared for a fight

It stalks and it teases my unconscious mind
Unfinished business it’s looking to find

And so I ponder just what this could mean
Wrong life choices? Becoming a meme?

Where am I failing and missing the mark?
Unfinished business lurks in the dark

I’m of an age where retirement looms
Income is down, yet expenses boom

I think of inflation, a Caesar corrupt
I have no control and so I wake up

I wake with a start and turn on a light
I ponder the dream that created this fright

Tonight it was banking, an issue quite real
Is my password safe or at risk of a steal?

I get up and check, all seems in good stead
But somehow I still have this feeling of dread

Unfinished business still lurks in my mind
As I drift back to sleep, answers to find

Crossing the Styx creates such a grind

March 2023