If something must go awry today,
let it be this poem.
It is unassuming,
unimportant.
If I may suffer some failure
of some sort
let it be this day.
Let it be here.

Better to compartmentalize the catastrophes
in a way that mitigates pain.
I couldn’t stand another heartache
like the Franco-American Incident.
I want to steer clear of that sort of fear.

If there is a hill
upon which to fall,
let it be here
with these words,
these thoughts.
Let these stanzas
be the gravestone of the day
and signify ALL that had wrong.

It’s only a poem,
after all.
What matter if it fails?