the sandal

i trudged up the hill the other day
walking unsteaduly, careful in fact
the thread linking the sandal upon my foot was wearing thin
the walked turned to hobbles when the thread broke,
just a few feet from my door
which was in fact the very beginning of my journey
but i was too stubborn to turn around and grab a different pair
besides theres a free sandal in the road down the street, right.
its been there forever it seems
and i've seen it almost every day on my way out
and its there when i return
just the same, but maybe a few feet north or south, east or west

and i think about this useless sandal as a constant in my life
whether im having a shitty day or not, ill still see that sandal,
and i'll still get angry at small things
and i'll still get depresed over my (lack of) love life
and i'll still end up at the deli
and this is what i thought about limping to class
about the constants

but that night we went back to the deli
to find that what was once a "cheers bar", our bar
had turned into another run of the mill, their bar
and on our way back, that sandal in the road
had been picked up

the things that were a constant in my life had changed
but it wasn't some spontaneous, random occurance
something, someone
had changed it
whether it be a poor man in desperate search for a
second sandal to complete his ensemble
or a coke-dealing rolling pin swinging
crazy son of a bitch with some sort of mental and/or rage disorder

so i went to bed that night with these thoughts on my mind
a 22 year old
a student, a scholar
in hope i'd not wake the next morning
a 60 year old
a skeptic, a sinner
alone

i had every intention of mending my sandal the next morning
but when i woke, i just decided to toss it aside

maybe i'll get to it eventually