image from fineartamerica.com
Feeling Free
“All my life I thought air was free, until I bought
a bag of chips.” --Anonymous
Yeah, true that--the best things in life are free--
and so are the worst. Some feel that the mere
sight of a .357 Magnum pistol is a joyous moment--
but for those who are raped, robbed or murdered
by it--not so much.
A steep forest trail that winds & rambles in & out of
golden larch & majestic fir deep into the foothills can
seem exhilarating--unless you’ve become, or always
were disabled; for us that trail is the gorgeous woman
we’ll never make love to, the red Ferrari we’ll never
drive, the mansion we’ll never own.
A lovely deep pond at twilight, serenaded by lunes and
bullfrogs, its cattails swaying, its lily pods jiggling like
the breasts on a jogging woman’s track team seems
intoxicating until the hungry swarm of mosquitos &
gnats descend upon you, & a chill wind slaps you
in the face.
Many wonderful
things cost nothing, but bee stings
ruin morning meadows.
Glenn Buttkus
Posted over on dVerse Poets Pub
8 comments:
I suspect the worst things in life come at a cost to the one suffering them. However, they are not something one would purchase for oneself on purpose knowing the consequences.
I like this different take on the prompt.
Ah Glenn, leave it to you to put on your big fuzzy curmudgeon hat. bah, humbug. smiles. I imagine you have had many good free moments, more than the bad since Christmas. And besides, if they sucked all the air out of potato chip bags, all you'd have was a bunch of tater chip crumbs. The right amount of chips were purchased and I imagine most of them were whole. But I like this different take on the prompt. :-)
Don't like bites, stings and mosquitoes swarming ha ~ Of course, these would ruin my walks and trails so have to be careful when enjoying nature ~
I think the swarms of insects is really a reminder that your bliss was borrowed. You could go back a second day and it would be the same.
I'm reminded of the quote "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away". You paint such beautiful pictures, and then skillfully douse them with a dose of reality! There's a moral there somewhere. I have to go think about that.....
I rather like the snarky, somewhat pessimistic voice in this, Glenn. The contrast you create is quite effective.
What I like about this is the feeling that I'm reading from different people's point of view. I think it makes me more aware and sensitive of others' feelings. I'm reminded of this: "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle" but also the hope that even if something looks daunting to us, there is always another way to look at it.
Post a Comment