The Hottest Day of the Year

Aug 1 2012

The hail pinged and zinged and ricocheted

sent us racing for shelter.

An attack of pinballs,

with the rat-a-tat-tat

of popping corn

blowing its top.

It came slanting down

in a furious free-for-all,

until the spent white balls

deflected harmless.

Heaven-sent,

to remind us how small we are.

On the hottest day of the year

they would not last long,

tiny emissaries

from the frozen extremities of the atmosphere.

I snatched one up,

a flattened sphere

that looked like mother-of-pearl.

Felt its cold wet glisten

marvelled at the polished finish,

such fragile beauty

to have survived

such a quick and perilous fall.

A mote of dust

to begin,

it took mere minutes

to produce this perfect jewel,

scant seconds

to vanish in my hand.

For how many years

does an oyster secrete its pearl

around a bit of gritty sand?

A precious stone

that lasts.

So how much more

would this evanescent gem command,

if rarity

is the mark of worth?

And then

I popped it in my mouth,

a burst of freshness

on the hottest day of the year.

An epic journey’s

inglorious end.

And after the hail

sun;
all the evidence
of my improbable tale
quickly expunged.