on freedom

our choices lie before us
our fate determined by those available
a woman scrabbles in the street
panicking to retrieve cards
they are blown along the paving in the rain
some spin into a gutter
no one helps her
why would you pick up a wind thrown tarot card lying at your feet?
what might it portend?
passers-by choose to step carefully
not one wants to tempt fate by treading accidentally on Death
or The Devil
the woman alone scrapes her finger nails against stone
trying to pick the damp pieces of paper from the ground
she is close to tears
what can it mean to lose your grip on tarot cards?
Has The Wheel of Fortune turned?

~

n.b. An incident in the street, a line in a book about choices, a poem. Clearly it was meant to be.

CLP 21/01/2026