Pencil Rod Casting

Table
Chair
Window
And door
Doesn't take much
To set up an angler
Of the language kind

Hooks ready for thoughts
Lures made of the heart
Pencil rod of wood and graphite
Poised above fathom deep paper
Casts skyward to the stars
Opting to stretch capacity's sense of daring
Seeking a strike beyond the void
The mind's tensile strength
Put to the test
Watching hope's hook and bait disappear
Into the darkness of discovery

We defer

Patience gathers a like audience as well
Spider in its web pauses to stare
House fly extraordinaire
Curiously suspends endless missions into hostile shadows
Choosing instead to rest beside my waiting game

Together
We wait for the bite
The word
The phrase
A morsel
A feast
Poem
Story
Novel
A tiny nibble will do

We all know
Swimming somewhere
Beneath reflections of the abyss
Not yet ready to toy with a hook's patience
Lives challenging opportunity
Teasers of the lure
A school of multi-syllabic meaning
Words once but minnow-like letters
Now glittering tandem reflections of mystery
Birth to maturation
Flowing together
Not yet ready to bestow lessons of the catch
School after school
Mocking our feeble attempts

Yet...

Determined as we are
We gaze in wonder
At a spider's seeming blasé confidence
Fearing neither shadow or light
As the future catch lifts off
Banks left
And taunts fate's simplest web
Just a little bit longer

Is it foolish
To remain
Tenacious trollers
Ready to reel in
Change lure
Recast our mind's determination
Our heart's hope
And explore even deeper labyrinths
Where rewards might still await?