The Obvious

As soon as he decides to stay in St. Cloud
and reject the position Miami is offering
In the field of public health, resisting the lure
Of its larger staff and bigger budget,
His choice, he knows, will be predictable,
All down in the cards for him to continue
As guidance counselor on week-days at St. Cloud High,
As snow-plow driver on winter weekends;
In the cards back when he jumped on a sled as a boy
And raced his brothers down Bevo Hill.
But at this moment, at dusk, as he walks from school
Through snow still falling, the outcome seems uncertain.

The end of this chapter called indecision
Is already written, he knows, in indelible ink
And locked away in a cabinet, though for now
He feels as if he's holding the pen
Over a page still blank and beckoning.
Now it gleams with the good he can do in Miami
By testing new therapies on a range of clients
Unless they feel their steady progress so slow
That they step aside to experiment with easy fixes
Doomed to be disappointing.

Now it gleams with the good of helping his students
At St. Cloud High solve many predictable conflicts,
Though not the ones that require new parents.
This plus the joy of making the blocked streets passable
Even on days when the streets of the stately district
Seem to enjoy reminding him that his income
Wiill never allow him to own a house there.

He can't resist it, the illusion of power,
Can't stop asking as he walks from school
Which path is likelier to lead to more contentment.
And still he knows that the epitaph to his life
Is carved on a headstone already chosen:
How the dormant seed suddenly sprouted
When moistened by an invitation to travel;
How the paper dam of an invitation
Was swept away by the river in the blink of an eye.



Carl Dennis