I Am Glad She Didn't... Poem by RIC BASTASA

when we were in Indonesia
she was confused
and doubted the reason for life
and it happens
that we were brought to a place
where lovers were killed
it is such a high place resulting
from a cataclysm of long ago
where volcanoes erupted together
bringing one land down and raising
another to make those very high cliffs
which made her fear her knees trembling
and i thought she, like that woman of
the story, would jump from the cliff
and crush herself down to the rocks
down the sea,

i left her to decide for herself
since she had been brought in the spirit
of freedom

she didn't. I am glad she didn't.