Looking for Puddles

I saw the rain start to fall outside,
And with an excitement not justified
By anything but itself, I laced on
My shoes, and slung on my coat,
Arm not yet through sleeve, when
Foot out the door.

The puddles had done it – or wait,
I can’t give it all to the puddles, because
What I had wanted were the splashes;
So half to these ponds and four-tenths
To potential, saving just enough
To give the observer a sense of worth.

You can imagine my dismay to discover
That the only things resembling puddles
Were these feebly filled fledgling forms
Of puddle, yet to be fully founded, and
sadly not promising much from potential.
I threw away my one-tenth in dismay.

But my desires were so strong that I long
Stood there, contemplating getting down
On hands and knees, to dig my own ditches,
Laced together by a network of canals,
Connected like the thoughts of mind, letting
Me take control of that piece of potential…

I laughed and turned away. Who am
I to push the ground so hard in desire to
See so small an effect for so much cause
Spent. There will be puddles another day,
And I have things to do, important enough
To make me wonder, why am I out, standing,
In the rain, looking for puddles.


PrioriThought 2009