<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" class="">At the Window</span><br class=""><i style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" class=""></i><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">I was at the window</span><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">when a fly near the latch</span><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">was on its back spinning—</span><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">legs furious, going nowhere.</span><br class=""><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">I thought to swat it</span><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">but something in its struggle</span><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">was too much my own.</span><br class=""><i style="margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" class=""></i><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">It kept spinning and began to tire.</span><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Without moving closer, I exhaled</span><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">steadily, my breath a sudden wind,</span><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">and the fly found its legs,</span><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">rubbed its face</span><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">and flew away.</span><br class=""><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">I continued to stare at the latch</span><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">hoping that someday, the breath</span><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">of something incomprehensible</span><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">would right me and</span><br class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">enable me to fly.</span><div class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Mark Nepo<br class=""></span><br class=""><br class=""></div></div></body></html>