meeting the puppetmaster again

Photo by Hannah Jacobson on Unsplash

do you know that feeling
this feeling
when you have the most beautiful
glass orb at your fingertips?
like a little sun.

you reach up to grasp it,
eyes swimming with wonder
in its warm glow,
standing on your tiptoes
just to touch it—

and you do.

you press your fingers
against it for a moment

the glow seeps into your skin,
making your heart tingle
with comfort.

and then, all of a sudden
the rug beneath you is pulled
and the hidden puppetmaster
dangling the bulb on a fishing
rod pulls, and you fall face-first
into the dirty, and up and away
flies your orb, once again

much too far out of reach.