Measuring Up

Let’s say
you are walking
a trail called Mystery,
new to you,

toward the sound
of rushing water.

You come upon
a stream,
carelessly diving
a hundred feet
into a pool.

Would you pick
a wildflower,
perhaps a calypso bulbosa,
a fairy slipper,
and try to measure
the velocity of a waterfall,
one plucked petal
at a time?

And yet you measure
your morning,
spent trifling
with words
on a page,

falling far short
of the number of
industrious retorts
from the nailgun
across the street.

(Photo credit, Michael Massi, via Flickr)