Frogger

   
The white work van    
passed so close    
its wind picked    
my hair from my shoulders    
     
my wild eyes    
sought you out    
on the other side    
of 10 rush-hour lanes    
of interstate highway    
     
my palms were slimy    
from sweat washing    
off my hand cream    
and my stomach    
creaked    
     
I gasped,    
but I didn’t step back    
when the next car    
blared its horn    
loud enough to    
echo in my ears    
     
instead I stepped    
     
forward    
     
To you.    
     
To make it past    
these steely    
minotaurs chasing me    
through an asphalt maze    
     
I stood in one spot    
too long, and a    
motorcycle’s mirror    
hit me in the hip.  
I keened  
as I took a shambling    
step to my right    
dragging my    
lame leg like    
lost dreams    
     
sure of nothing    
save the pain    
save the certainty    
that I have to    
save enough    
me    
to get    
     
to you    
     
Terror cracked my    
eyelids at every    
exhaust-filled inhalation    
and the soles of my    
shoes melted to my feet    
sticking me to the    
ground,    
slowing my pace    
as I strained    
and raged to get    
     
to you    
     
I swung an arm    
as I jumped forward    
and hit the grill of a    
speeding pickup truck    
crossing the    
   
last white line    
     
and    
I slammed against you    
sobbing,    
flopping my shattered
arms and legs    
and trauma-torn mind    
until felt your safe chest    
pressed against my    
ragged face.    
     
I shivered in pain    
as I waited for your    
arms to lock around    
my waist    
to hold me    
up.    
     
You watched me.    
In the gauntlet.    
     
You watched me    
take    
every    
hit.    
     
My knees buckled    
and the light dimmed    
as I pushed my battered    
body closer raised    
my lips    
to find relief in yours.    
     
I lifted my face;    
you didn’t look down    
Your arms didn’t hold me    
Your hands didn’t splay my back    
     
I recognized with dawning horror    
your hands cuffed my slender wrists    
as you watched the    
highway    
   
With steely eyes    
you flung me off    
like dogshit    
on your fingers    
   
into the path    
of an oncoming semi    
     
I screamed,    
     
but you had already    
turned from the sounds    
of traffic