The Elephant at Infinity

I jump across rain puddles,

And splash synthetic sounds

Across the pavement.

The sound is mesmerizing.

Rain drops onto my shoulders.

My feet, hands, my hair.

It coats and slicks me.

I am enchanted.

Out of a puddle an elephant

Rises, formed of water and miniaturized.

I reach out to touch it,

But it dissolves back to the ground.

All that is left is a tusk

Of ivory, lying next to the puddle,

Curving along its perimeter.

It is almost pointing.

I look along the arc it

Imagines, extending to infinity,

And indeed see infinity at the

End of the arc.

The elephant is there waiting for me.

He is part water, part flesh,

And he has one missing tusk.

The one he has is liquid, so

I pick up the ivory one and start towards him.

It is clearly a long trip.

But I arrive, eventually, at infinity,

And he is still there, waiting for me.

I hand him his missing tusk,

And he takes it in his trunk.

He places it back into its socket.

The he fixes me with his eye, the

One of flesh, and speaks to me

Without words. "You are welcome

At infinity anytime." Further silence.

Then he is gone.

And I am left in the rain

Again, surrounded by puddles

And their sounds of dreary dilapidation.

After infinity, everything else is boring.

I hope to go back soon.

Copyright © 2005 Vlad Beffa