The unwelcome suitor

Despair stalks me like a spurned lover
But I dodge, ignore and escape her
Rounding corners
Racing up alleys
I never look back

I am a spy eluding capture
Racing tonight through Budapest
Or is it Moscow
Madrid
Or Shanghai?

I do not pause
To catch my breath
Or stop to see if I have lost her
Knowing that stopping
Is too much like dying
Hesitating
Too much like death

I pull courage up
And around my shoulders
Until it flows like a cloak
An undercover agent
I dash forward
A fool rushing in
Or a wise man
Simply unbowed