Poem: It Never Was

 It Never Was

by: Aleta O'Brien

Slithering of a snake 

The pounce and catch 

springs to life 

As movement triggers a string

But it’s not a cat

it’s not the silken strands

It’s a connection following a path

And letting the path 

  Trip over itself,

Under a bridge and 

Through the woods

Life is complicated like that

It gets jumbled up and knotted

Don’t use teeth and claws

Yet knots require patience

That is not there

Sometimes the string…just ends or

Loops back to find its way again

And sometimes it crosses under

What looks like another 

What fun!  It rises up high

Floating in the sky, what freedom

Only it’s not a string and it’s not freedom

It’s secured.  Firmly in place and reaches

Up to the balloon and forbid it

Movement of the natural air sort

It controls position; it’s not a connection

It never was, 

It was a tether and under

Its shadow was the silken string.

Once the tether is cut, the ballon might

Move further away or might drift 

down to touch 

the strands

To connect once more…

That is..

If the strands weren’t trampled

and lost in the mud