Down the Scarlet Road

Carried by my golden dreams,
one silent day alone,
I walked away from everything
and flew off on my own.

Through oceans, skies, and valleys,
ever onward I would go,
under mountains, over cities,
with each step I thought I'd grow.

And surely, in my mind, I thought
I was freer every day.
The world was whispering secrets
every night I'd further stray.

But behind me, all was broken,
shattered shards of people past,
connections thrown to waste away,
no love that would ever hope to last.

I forged forward, no regrets yet,
despite my bleeding feet.
I couldn't heal a wound like that
when my own ignorance had me beat.

I didn't notice how the sky paled
and all the wrinkled hills fell flat.
I stopped dreaming as I wandered;
time fled too fast to waste on that.

Soon the little whispers faded,
resting silent on my tongue,
my soul bereft of words, yet jaded
by the world when I was young.

And some days I still look behind,
to the battered streaks on which on I roam,
wishing fiercely I could turn and run
down the scarlet road that takes me home.