THE SNAKE AND THE STONE

BY MICHAEL JAMES

                As a child, I believed a snake to be by each stone,

though in truth I noticed

                                              countless stones, few snakes.

During the fearful years,

I thought there was always something unpleasant

lurking around the bend.

But as I grew up and rounded many happy corners,

I noticed nothing harmful waiting especially for me:

many rocks but few serpents.

As a man, I can now  understand

why some people see by so many boulders,

an occasional tapered tail

slithering down a small hole.

For me, there are either too many stones

                                or too few snakes behind them

                                to worry much.