Mind the Gap (Poetry)

Some days are fine — it narrows down to no more than a crack
and the step across is taken in your stride
but other times it yawns so deep and chasm-like it feels
the chance is slim of reaching the far side.

The edge erodes — falls clean away — blind darkness looms beneath
and threatens with a stomach-wrenching fear,
a voice inside screams to stay back despite the urge to look,
resist the rebel thought to get too near.

For all it takes is just one step — one stumble and your hold
on sanity, and everything you know
could all be lost and swallowed up in that perverse abyss —
a senseless world, unfathomed, waits below.

So heed the warning — mind the gap — it’s wider than you think
and sometimes you just cannot trust your eyes —
the ground that seemed so solid once is crumbling away
and underneath the realm of madness lies.