A path without options

When the road ahead
Appears to have no options
And may end
In a box canyon

I remind myself
There are always options

There may be unseen forks ahead
I can stop, and reconnoiter
There is always a step back
And another, if necessary

And while the stone walls
Along this roadway
Are impenetrably thick
And unyielding

The guardrails confining my life path
Are porous manifestations
Of my own imagination