Education, Be Damned

Riding my bike into the blustery headwind
was harder than I thought it would be.
Those same winds woke me during the night
and carried into the early April morning.

From the safety of my apartment,
they’d sounded like they’d slowed.
Took my bike out on the asphalt path that
slices through the woods of Portage and
Summit Counties and found that the winds
had not quit. They had been lying in wait.

So I pedaled into those winds and labored
to bring any portion of them into my lungs.
Five miles seemed like ten and I hit
one last hill that crushed any unblown desire
to go further. I turned to head for home.

As I circled my bike and headed back down
that fateful hill, a cardinal flew into my path.

If I would have hit him,
it wouldn’t have been portentous and
neither was my not hitting him fortuitous.

I did not care for his regal plumage.
And I did not care for his latent symbolism.
His natural pride could kiss my ass and
his inherent hope and nobility mattered not.

I did not hit the bird, thankfully;
as even these winds wouldn’t have been able to
clear that regal plumage from my spokes, which I
would have been forced to do.

Comments

[Kristine]

Not sure what to say, but I need to keep reading this one over and over...