We were finishing up our morning walk when there beneath our feet
we saw a snail on the sidewalk…getting up the nerve to cross the street.
As I looked down from up above I felt somewhat conflicted
for my world is so far-reaching and the snail’s so restricted.
I felt bad but then I thought perhaps my thinking is defective
for, when it comes to a snail’s world, I imagine
the joy’s in the perspective.
From where the snail crawls…bringing his shell for safe refuge
I imagine he…like me, thinks his world is pretty huge.
And there’s something to be said for a life with little worry…
where you find your food along the ground and you’re never in a hurry.
I thought I would help this snail…that the normal laws of nature we’d defy
So I picked him up and took him across the street…
in a way I showed him how to fly.
I set him down in the grass where he now had more time to eat or dance or play…
“No need to thank me Mr. Snail.” I said as we happily walked away.
I was feeling pretty good about myself…this I must concede
even though helping a snail cross the road…is but a minuscule good deed.
“What if that snail had already crossed the road?” Deborah asked
“What if you threw off the day he had planned
by picking him up and putting him back in the place where he began?”
Of course she was correct…
for I surely had no way of knowing
If, when we first saw Mr. Snail
He was coming or he was going….
But I have learned my lesson…
even though with this snail I couldn’t atone…
The next time I see a snail beneath my feet…
I’ll leave well enough alone.
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