Catching Meteors With Lettuce

Foolish like you think you can jump off the ledge
And suddenly sprout wings to fly
You’re no dragonfly
Or albatross
You stupid imbecile learn the facts
You were never good at that
So quit making planes of paper and trying
To explore the world
Quit trying to reach the heavens
By searching for a sword
I am done with your stupidity and I cannot think at all
I asked you what you were up to now
And you replied “catching meteors”
Foolish like you think you can save humanity
You are only holding lettuce and
You’ve nothing to compete
There is something stupid in you
A dodo bird, I’m sure
You imbecile you have to learn people aren’t unstoppable
And flying off the cliff for you isn’t possible
You won’t be King Arthur or find a sunken land
And you cannot catch meteors holding lettuce in your hands
Foolish did you think yourself the mighty albatross
When you left across the bridge holding a bag of sand
You claimed to be stardust?
You had tied two purple strings to your finger just to claim
Royalty had always run straight through your veins
And at the bottom of the water drowned I had found you there
A sodden little bag of sand and a drowned head of lettuce
Clutched to your chest
You wore makeshift wings of paper that became your death
Foolish like you think you can jump off the ledge
I scream at you that “you’re no dragonfly
You imbecile”
I rave and scream at the stupidity in your dead face
And kick the head of lettuce and the wings that let you die
You were never very smart
And I begin to cry
But as the nighttime darkens and I watch the stars come out
I see a meteor shower and realize what this was all about
You were always on a fool’s errand and claiming you could be
Just like the heroes of old, but I wasn’t listening
Foolish here you thought you could actually fly
And stop the falling stars far off in the sky?
I should have realized before how far you might go
But I’m the fool now
I should have known


1/19/11

By Elizabeth Azpurua

Title credit: Alex Bach