too late the resolution
(like Louisa G. in Hard Times)

she did it right
and she’s alone
I know
it will not last
in movies
with the rom-com aspect

but in life
decisions tend to
isolate
the more done on one’s own
the more isolate
one remains

call it conscience late
to be
a part of
worldly things

to surrender
what one might have had
for company in choosing
sides

and instead
go straight
if on a life track
like
a racetrack
on one’s own

so goes resignation
wrong thing
now try
the right thing
and because of all the circumstances
with
parochial judgments
now one shall go
along
alone

c l couch


         In the novel Hard Times by Charles Dickens, there is a school of place of thought, in which a horse is a “quadruped” and little more.  Nothing matters of the beauty or the majesty in horses.  A child of the headmaster (and promulgator of the “quadruped” importance) is in essence trapped by the limitations in perceiving, well, anything.  She learns, rebels, and is at peace with the aesthetics of the world by the end.  But it is too late.  She remains alone, sans family, in her good thinking.
         I often think of this and her when pondering the story.
         Here is a paraphrase of her final state: Louisa stares into her fire with a "gentler and a humbler face." She sees herself helping others but never marrying or having children (https://www.enotes.com/topics/hard-times/questions/what-is-the-conclusion-of-the-novel-hard-times-225779).

photo by Rich Dahlgren on Unsplash 
         I was walking up this horse path and lo and behold a horse was there grazing! I had to wait several minutes before I was allowed to pass. The golden hour sunlight helped make this one a keeper [photographer’s narrative].