what happened, when?

when it comes to grips
with these life choices,
back pocket begins
to burn – there is no wallet,
something has finished,
paid for.
where to go from here? did
did we take the only road?

unseen road
decided in those early days,
traversed since then -
something important we
(ostensibly with ease)
could renege
when face to face with
some uncontrolled thing.

not to know that time
knew we were not for
reneging;
to whom
the promise was made.

was that it? there was something else -
it happened over a long
period -
decisions were made somewhere, when?
someone keeping a kind of check, who?
playing some kind of
fraud.

their machinations,
now on the other side -
things get out of hand.

was that it? what was it
for, we coasted?
were we always on the lonely
road?
were there other roads
we could not see,
was that the
only
road?