National Poetry Month: Day #7

The only certain thing, some times, is uncertainty. Then as now, no matter how hard we try to anticipate it, the element of surprise will always surprise us. Thus, this offering, originally published on April 16, 2003:

Graceful Tumble

for Elizabeth

Practically from birth
we train
like cynical thoroughbreds
to seek surprise, dispel
astonishment before it crashes
us into fences or others staggered
by the unforeseen mouse
or sudden stinging insect.
We practice patience, vigilance
and balance, keep eyes
ahead and feet
below
until
the rug furls
like a flag,
a standard of futility,
topples us
without ceremony
leaves us only
with the graceful
way we fall.

©2003 L.A. Smith.