Closing In

Shifting walls and closing doors
Back to where I was before

A different map, another name
But inside still feels the same

I call out to ask what's ahead
My own voice reverberates instead

I find a new path, hope alights inside
But as the halls grow dim, doubt slows my stride

So many paths were open when I was young
Yet each new turn, they fade, one by one
The halls now shrink, the ceiling slopes low
Not sure what to think, much less where to go

Each step feels uncertain, in each turn there is loss
The darkness a chasm I can never quite cross
That chasm the distance between my dreams and me
Even as I'm racing forward, I watch it recede
My pace then slowing, disquiet closing in
Narrow tunnels constrict, panic begins