late

 i'd like to be late

so late

to everything and everyone else's welcome party

maybe the kind of late that makes you wonder if i would ever come in the first place

waiting, standing in line

in the rain, just so late

walking slowly before the buses rush through you;

letting your hair dry on the way 

your soles get wet and your feet get swollen

a layer of skin so thick and rusty it bounces off you like a bandaid.

so late that even my steps are heard from a mile away,

a person long forgotten, a becoming

maybe even so late that no one will be waiting for me,

no cake left,

no parties

no rain.