Trepan

Today's word is "trepan" ... A trap or a person who ensnares others.

Oops
Snap! You're going about your own business
when, suddenly you lose your footing. It's not
as if you weren't warned, balanced as you were,
precariously on that tippy bit of ground.

And those who had gone before said to watch out
for the trepan ... they knew it was there and they
tried to warn you. But you wouldn't listen because
you'd been down that road before and had had no trouble.

So you thought you were stronger and trickier.
It seemed so obvious. When you took that
step, the fall was an embarrassed surprise
and a disappointment. You'd been so sure.

You thought you'd learned from your mistakes,
that you were smarter and better than all that.
And yet, here you are again, with dirt on your
clothes and up your nose. Impossible.

Now what. Everyone saw. You can't pretend
it didn't happen. So, you push yourself
back into an upright position. And it seems
as if no one is really paying attention to you after all.

In fact, you start to notice little specs of
dirt and blades of grass clinging to the rest
of them. Someone brushes mud from your arm.
Your job, it appears, is to carry on together.

Anne Selleck
Copyright 2013