Day 119: In the Air

In the Air
by
Matt Zurbo

Crystal threw a ball in the air,
but it didn’t come down.
For some strange reason,
it just span high off the ground.

“Spin, you little thing,”
she whispered.
“Spin without a care.
Stay up there, stay up there,
spinning free and fair.”

Bobby Boogle jumped it,
wrestling the ball
up off the ground.
Only to find himself dangling,
jangling,
unable to come down.

“Don’t hurt me,”
he conceded.
“Be kind,
be friendly,
be well.
A fall from this great height,
would really ring my bell.  

“Lower me softly,
softly,
softly,
I’m sorry I was mean.
Up close, I must admit,
you’re the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

That did not deter
every other boy,
from jumping, leaping,
grappling,
trying hard to spoil,

a little ball sitting,
just below the sky,
bothering no-one,
simply getting by.

“Leave it alone!”
Crystal raged,
as they used it as a swing.
Can’t you just admire,
the miracle of doing nothing?”

“Let it breath,
let it pause,
oh,
try not to make everything a race.
Why not simply admire
the way it doesn’t do anything,
and does it at
lazy, non-existent pace?”

Then an eagle tried to eat it,
but, poop,
out the other end it came,
as the eagle moved,
and the ball it stayed.

The government tried to give the ball,
big electric shocks,
while telling the people who saw it,
they were off their rocks!

“There’s nothing going on here,
not a dot,
a spot,
or floating ball.
Nada, zip, zilch!” they insisted.
“You imagined it all!”

Soon, there was a circus,
of him and her and you.
Everybody clambering,
to see what it might do.

To take their photos,
selfies of course,
with big, fat, fake smiles.
Just to say they
had seen,
something different for a while.

Some weird creatures,
down and out,
decided the ball was their God!
They preyed to and worshipped it,
and sung it songs,
through midnight fog.

But…

Only Crystal knew,
the patience of the ball’s act.
She stayed,
she waited,
and waited,

and waited,

as if it and her had a pact.

One-by-one the chorus,
of thrill seekers,
scientists and hangers on,
got bored of an object,
that would not play along.

Soon, there was just Crystal,
along with the floating, spinning ball,
and still she waited,
and waited,
then
waited more.

Finally relaxed,
unrushed,
in defiance of gravity,
free from care and motion,
the ball sighed
mightily.

A sweet moment, at last stolen,
from fact,
from time,
from the-way-things-are,
the ball fell back,
into her palm,
where she returned it to its jar.

Crystal and the ball,
then shared a wink,
and she was gone,
strolling off,
like any other kid,
into another dawn.

 

The End