Impassable Poem by Etienne Charilaou

A great difficulty has arisen,
An insurmountable wall towers above me.
It stretches to the heavens.
Behind me the endless desert:
Land of hopelessness and certain death
I cannot go back and I cannot go forward.
What am I to do?
If I could fly then I could soar over this obstacle.
But I have no wings.
I could try walking its length - perhaps it has a pause,
And I can get around it?
But I am exhausted - I have no strength left
For another journey.

I am stuck before this wall.
I collapse to the ground -
Here I will remain until I die.

But this fate I cannot accept.
So, there is only one thing for me to do.
I will walk through this wall
As though it were made of air or water.
I will walk through it - I don't care!

The Impossible says to me: ‘Fool! I am solid, you cannot do this! '
I have no words to reply like a well run dry,
my mouth parched spittleless.

I say to Impossible: ‘Even if I cannot pass here, then this wall
Shall be no more and I shall be no more, and you shall be no more.'

A mocking voice comes on the desert wind:
‘Will you also remove the stake embedded in your heart? Or shall that also be no more? '

I know full well I cannot remove it.
All hope is lost until I hear Death whisper:
‘Fear not! I will remove it gladly but bear awhile.'

It was then as I looked at the vault of sky above,
A huge bird circled and beyond it bottomless blue,
And the glaring sun.