She is Lost

I know she is lost but those lost can be brought home I want to print one hundred missing flyers but how she’d hate to be found believes she knows this twisting trail Like her mother’s weary face awaiting a simple knock If I linger in her swelling shadow will I be swallowed? If I dispel my every urge to search and save will she forget me? If I rush toward her trembling arm golden cape draped from my neck will she resent me? Missing pets might stray to long surrounding sidewalks turn strange She is far from a mangy mutt still she prowls in pursuit of his fleeting praise How does he have her blindly convinced he is steering the right direction How does he have her mindlessly certain his hostile affection is truer than us Us who never screamed who seldom swore would not dare sneer It is unsettling to remain upset I have lost her She is the one trudging through the disorienting fog She is the one facing the perilously unknown evergreen grove miles from home I am only the one who knows she is lost