Day 202: On The Ramp Again

On that damn ramp again.
I don’t know why I always end up here.
I’m just a sucker for a gradual slope.
Also, it’s always the first thing I see.

There’s so many better options.
I know where the elevators are.
I know where the escalators are, too.
But something always draws me down this dark endless hallway.

A few people take the journey with me.
Surely visitors that don’t know what they’re doing.
But when I look back, they’re gone.
They must have realized how dumb it was.

I hear nothing but my own footsteps
And my increasingly heavy breaths.
The sounds that I’m used to are all muted
As if I’m not supposed to be there.

This used to be so much easier
Back when I was young and spry.
I can feel the joints in my knees tingle
And my heart is jackhammering away.

It’s all so deceptive.
You think you’re walking on flat ground.
But the gradual slope ensures a minor difficulty
With little visible progress.

Every corner I turn
There’s just more ramp to walk.
Like a big cosmic joke
As I keep climbing to infinity.

I think about being a kid
Running up and down every ramp I saw.
If only I could see me now
I’d probably be really disappointed in my perceived plight.

I was here almost exactly 7 years ago
Trying to hide my burning cigarette.
A security guard told me to leave
And I texted my first and only mass apology.

There’s a sign with an arrow
Pointed directly into a wall.
I joked about it the first time I saw it.
The second time, I walked straight into the wall.

And that’s kind of what it’s like
As I make the same mistake over and over.
Life’s too short for me to learn my lesson
And a fondness grows for any familiar place, good or bad.

Finally at the top
I’m greeted to an empty, hollow cavern.
There was no reason to rush
As I’m still all alone with still more time to kill.

What was the meaning of all this?
And why did I pay 40 bucks?
These are the questions I should ask myself.
But instead, I catch my breath.

I always walk the ramp because I already made a mistake.
If I continue to be dumb enough to go to Yankee Stadium,
I deserve a small dose of physical torment
Before 4 hours of mental assault.

– TeeCoZee