Flying Carpet

Black ice covers the city, even birds
Feel insecure, perched on slippery branches.
From my castle on top of the hill, I watch
Pedestrians trying not to slip back down
Grabbing walls, socks wrapped around shoes
Arduously making their way up, falling
Noiselessly. Even sounds are covered with ice.

Then coming from nowhere, I hear the engine
Proud among the helpless, the car is coming
Up the hill, up the hill, up the hill
Slows down, slides a bit, slides more
Then stops almost at the top. Silence is back.
Humans are thinking inside, analyzing, creating
Confident in their own power over nature.

A man steps out, grabs the floor mat
Elegantly slips it under the back wheel
Gets back in, certain of victory over nature
The engine restarts, wheels start turning
The floor mat makes the most beautiful arc
As it flies down the hill while the car stays in place.
Nature won but it is just a temporary setback.

More analyzing, more creating, and then
The solution. The knight found the dragon weakness.
Ready for the kill the man steps out, confident
Puts the floor mat back under the wheel
The passenger slips into the driver’s seat
The engine starts, the man steps on the mat
The wheels start turning, man has vanquished nature.

The acceleration is colossal, the wheel spins so fast
That it takes an eternity to catch on the mat
But when it catches there is a sonic boom
The car has become a human canon
Defying gravity, the man takes off on his mat
Like Aladdin on his flying carpet, slightly surprised
He looks at the back of the car. Did it move?

Patrice Capitant, 2013