Anger roils within my head
as I bolt from work
slamming my old pick up's door
and screeching from the parking lot.

Everyone it seems today
did their best to make life hard
for this balding southern man.

Damn! that Toyota cut me off!
So I send a finger on his way
through traffic creeping like a slug.
Suitable end for this crap day.

At last I make it out of town.
Cars speed up and separate
making me ease up on my frown.
Turning my thought to a small stream.

So I soon exit the interstate
onto a two lane asphalt road
and my anger begins to abate
lessening my workday's load.

Then there's a bridge up ahead
so I park on the roadside
where the shoulder has been spread.
Here near where peace may abide.

i quietly exit from my truck
and walk to the center of the bridge
glancing around and by luck
spot a deer on adjacent ridge.

She ambles slowly out of sight
and my attention turns below
to the stream bathed in evening light
illuminating water's flow.

Slowly, unsurely eyes adjust
and vision pierces water, clear
to rocks almost as red as rust.
All thoughts of my day disappear.

Then at the head of a deep pool
a dimple appears on smooth surface
where a group of small fish school.
( I think they are a school of dace )

Gaze now drifts to a large boulder
in water maybe three feet deep
where current moves a little bolder
like it's awakened from its sleep.

And just below this larger stone
a bigger fish focuses to view
in the eddy, it's there all alone.
Alone with nothing much to do.

If it moves at all it is not seen.
It's just holding in total peace
in its world of wet duns, reds and green
where, for it, all worries cease.

And just like that I realize
all tension has deserted my old frame
here between the water and blue skies
for now I have won at life's game.