On the playground
near the picnic tables
we'll be the best of friends
until the game is up,
the sun retreats
and shadows break hard
over boundaries
once so easy to discern.
Still, the rules are there
to be ignored,
like homework on the slate board.
Players in a seasonal pageant, .
we are. The children
of our own misgivings.
Soon enough the voices call
announcing curfew for us all
and they are not so easily deflected.
So, will I turn the table over,
scattering plastic slugs
and penalty cards before
I concede to defeat?
There is no tally of the score.
I won't regret another loss.
The end is simply preordained
and it's always fun and friendly
until everyone gets hurt.
There's always a change that no one gets hurt, but I guess that would be too saccharin. Happy thoughts ^..^
ReplyDeleteMore than a chance. That's what puts the lie to the writing on the slateboard. "I" have the free will to read and obey or to ignore; to overturn the game board or take the chance of losing. Just because the happy ending isn't delineated doesn't mean it isn't an option. But you are right - the lines don't point that way and they don't appear to be neutral either. I'll have to look at that. Thanks for commenting.
DeleteYour comment flew right over my head. It reads like a branch of Game Theory. Oh, to have a Beautiful Mind. I don't, hence, I remain perplexed.
ReplyDeleteMy fault. A beautiful mind and a complicated answer are not synonymous. To be more direct - I am looking at it from several angles.
ReplyDeleteThe innocents are just having fun. There's homework to be done, but isn't there always some responsibility you could be taking care of instead of having fun. And someone else is always saying "You can't do it that way - you have to color inside the lines..."
The fact that it ends with the old cliche' like in that movie A Christmas Story with -"No, you can't have a BB gun - You'll put your eye out!" I meant it more satirical - with another voice at least thinking exactly what you did -"why does anyone have to get hurt?" Of course, you are right - they don't.
Thanks! But now I'm bedeviled with your linguistic correlation. You wrote," A beautiful mind and a complicated answer are not synonymous." Your contention: "they are not synonymous" is not linguistically logical. As a cultural reference, a 'Beautiful Mind' imports brilliance. "A complicated answer" expresses a connotative idea, ergo; there is no mutual relationship between the two statements. To make it simple, synonymous is the wrong word. However, your clarification for one of the duller knives in the drawer (moi), was perfectly understood :)
ReplyDelete