Day 15: Incidentals

Photo: stratogen.net

What if I could fly

But my wings were wax in a thermal sky?

What if I could race across the Sahara

But my feet were like a painted terrapin’s flipper?

And what if I had the power to invent a new civilization

But my IQ was of prehistoric variation?

What if I could spit poetry like Virgil

But the sound of my voice was an alligator’s tranquil?

And what if I was feet to the stars

But my dream to be a legend was stalked by a fragile heart?

And what if I was the seal of authority

Yet kept up a vagrant clueless about my nobility?

And if I could skip 1,000 walls

But my assurances don’t jibe with my balls?

What use would that be, if I took a fall?

What if I relished a unique personal fantasy

Yet was scared witless of facing the incidental ecstasy?

What if I could anticipate seeds of the future in events of the past

Yet came short of coherence to watch it come to pass?

What if I could explode into a million seeds

But faltered when confronted by the impact?

What if the detail of my future was the beauty of paradise

Yet I couldn’t begin one day at a time?

And what if I could live the extraordinary life

But copped out for suicide?

What if I could alter the aftermath in these lines

Yet I’d rather not give it a try?

And what if I never mentioned it outright

Would you have seen the you represented in the I?

Would you detect the lie behind which you did hide?

Akpan