Page 16 - WTP VOl. IX #1

9
Leap Day
How to interpret this interpolation?
Sidling in at the end of the stunted month, February, which no one could want more of, rousted each fourth year out of hibernation,
this stepchild of the calendar tenders back
those hours that go for three years overlooked as our planet less than neatly circles the sun.
Another day capped with a low cloud ceiling, floored by snow resisting a merger with mud, decidedly not for picnics or parades—
the calendar needs it, but do we? As long
as it’s on offer, we’ll most likely take it. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow . . .
We answer spellbound to a daily order drummed deep into us, infiltrating our cells: Forward. March. Just so. Ignore the obvious: each day’s job lot of steps brings closer a day when getting up from bed could seem like a leap.
RobeRt b. shaW