Fell, Fall, Falling, by Rachell Summers

Fell, Fall, Falling

-- Rachell Summers

Fell

Well, once I was running after a bus.

A school bus actually.

You know, to go to school.

It was in the 5^th grade and I was new.

I didn’t know the bus would wait.

The air was moist with early morning fog,

And in the woodland violet aura up ahead

I saw the bus at the corner, starting to pull away.

Like a Baroness shot out of a cannon,

I ran so fast

I could have won a gold medal.

But I hadn’t given a thought to

Stopping.

Feet don’t have brakes, you know.

So I slammed straight into the tire wheel

Of that potentially yellow school bus, and

Bounced back, arms and legs stretched out in front of me.

And, landed on my butt.

“Oops, pardon me.” I said.

To the bus, I guess,

Because no one else was around.

The kids were all leaning out the windows, everyone on one side, so the bus could have easily tipped over,

I later thought.

Gathering as much dignity as a

Shot-out-of-a-cannon Baroness could muster,

I climbed the bus stairs, sat in a seat and

Proceeded to untie and then tie back up my black tennis shoes.

“Look at her, she’s tying her shoes,” laughed one 4^th grade boy, pointing at me.

“No wonder she fell down.”  He was so disdainful, just like a 4^th grade boy.

The bus driver nodded, pulled the lever to shut the bus doors,

Which made that unique bus whooshing sound, and we were off.

“I would have waited.” said the driver.

Fall

Some people fall down all the time.

Like wide receivers who get tackled,

They fall down and immediately get piled upon by the

whole defensive line – when really…..

He’s already down, so it just seems oh so dramatic.

Every one slowly gets up

And they do it all over again.

Surfers fall upon the glassy, hard ocean,

Which looks deceptively smooth and forgiving

But it is not.

They swim to the surface, climb back on their boards

And they do it all over again.

Hockey players don’t fall down much,

which surprises me, since they are on skates.

But they do slam into the plexiglass wall a lot,

The one that surrounds the rink.

Which seem really painful,

but they bounce back, skate away and resume play.

And they do it all over again.

But whenever I have fallen,

I stay down for a while.

My ego spread all around me,

Which takes time to gather.

And I say, every time,

I won’t do it again.

But the next time it happens,

IF it happens.

I swear,

I shall bounce right back up

And declare

“And that’s how it’s done!”

               

Falling

OK, it happened again today.

I fell down.

But it wasn’t my fault or

Because I’m getting old.

It was the stupid stairs.

Oh, and my stupid sandals.

And, I suppose,

My stupidly long skirt.

But I redeemed myself

I knew I couldn’t possibly be hurt

So…

I bounced up, like a gymnast making a perfect 10 landing.

Brushed off my skirt, looked around at the offending stairs

As if to say,

You think you’re so tough?

It will take more than that

To get the best of me.