equilibrium

it’s a game of balance

toe to heel on a fraying tightrope

chin up, nose to the sky

scared, shivering

ankles quivering

be it that the daintiest darling dove

may dare to settle on your shoulder

and you tilt, off-kilter

but her song can halt the winds

perchance you leap

to land on a cloud

and lounge in its pearly embrace, proud

or you fall through it

snatching desperately at gauzy filaments

it dissolves

like cruel cotton candy

and the next one

reaches out with tender palms

to receive you as you plunge

but with not a flutter of the eye

you soar once again and

return to square one or square

eight, if all squares are one

and you perch, nearly hovering; bound

to teeter and trip

or stagger and slip

and yet you continue

ever enduring

merely mustering the courage to cope

always arriving back at the tightrope

and with a sweeping glance you see

the rest of us danglers

perched on knotted threads spanning the sky

some seek exit

but there is nothing else

and some of us

flirt with the edge

tipped forward

arms up and out

wings waiting to unfold

slanted backs and slanted smiles

unafraid to fall or to fly