If Poem by Sara Militello

IF

If you think to avoid a fall
by never risking anything at all
or by waiting for trouble to pass
so pristine grass will cover your crass;

If you expect to reap every good thing
solely from what you already know
believing you'll still have
a worthy character to show;

If you skitter around in a dither
of doing nothing at all-
or become embedded in showing yourself
as the driven snow

Believing you've that gradual yet
inevitable descent slowed,
by disregarding the more likely debris
that would be there to see...

Well, we who on the fence hover
for thinking that doing nothing will cover...
create only a debacle that's more often
compounded times three.

July 29,1997