he had it all planned perfectly,
determined to make sure
it would go off without a hitch.
broken down into nice little
bite-size pieces.
one piece would follow naturally from the next:
step one would lead
to step two, would lead
to step three, would lead,
to step four, would lead,
to step five, would lead,
to…
well, once he got to step five,
the rest would just fall into place.
perfect.
and simple.
perfectly simple.
it was a perfectly simple plan.
it was painstaking the effort he put into the plan.
and the time he put into the plan.
but this is what one needs to do,
he knew,
to make sure one has everything accounted for:
every contingency covered,
every complexity calculated,
every problem projected,
every difficulty divined,
every impediment imagined,
every agitation anticipated,
every predicament predicted.
oh, it was a wonderful plan.
a magical plan.
a tremendously, wonderful, magical plan.
…until he got to step one.
that’s when the trouble started.
and the plan unraveled.
which is a shame,
because it was a damn fine plan.