Their criss-cross
Pattern, even I step
Between, careful not
To squish

Save my shoes
And them
From a messy
Death

More to avoid
Karmic trouble
Now, priced
Too high

Unlike my childhood view
All those cracks,
All those days
To school, then home

Deliberate steps of
Disjointed responsibility
To save her back;
Unusual temptation

Sometimes,
Succumbing – despite
That awful price
Which never presented

But, these creatures
Of the earth,
Will not stain my soles
Because, who knows