Pendulum

(Prescript: The prescribed background music for this poem is "The Chain," #31 on the playlist, so go down to the playlist, click on that song, then come back and resume reading. I'll wait...)(...still waiting...)

Picture in your mind a time when the pendulum swung
all the way one way,
all the way the other way,
and rested finally in the middle.

A breeze might push it,
a breeze from the other side might push back.
Whichever breeze is stronger will determine to which side the pendulum will swing,
or if it will swing at all.

But sometimes if it swings to the right,
or to the left,
a child or passing stranger might get knocked over,
even if he was paying attention,
that's how unsuspecting a motionless object suddenly moving can be.

Do not put your trust in the strength of a pendulum, even one
that looks particularly strong, for though
it will take something fiercer than a breeze to blow it this way or that way,
when it does swing,
it will hit heavy,
hit you hard, knock you down, maybe
(especially if you had been of the mind that you could take shelter
in it's shadow.)

-XOXO,