The Vertiginous Fly

By luigi_pagano

Mon, 16 Sep 2019
  • 2151 reads
2 comments
 
The fly on the wall
hung on for dear life,
afraid of a fall
as he had vertigo.
 
Instead of flying
to a window pane
he began climbing
with a slow crawl.
 
He slid with a thump
to the floor below
and the hapless chump
didn't try anymore.
 
He should have hurried
to make his escape
as a spider scurried
towards him on the tiles.
 
The fly had a hunch
that the arachnid meant
to have him for lunch.
What should he do?
 
He was fairly relaxed
as he saw that the floor
had just been waxed
and was very slippery.
 
The polish put a damper
on the spider's plan
forcing him to scamper
out of the door.
 
© Luigi Pagano 2019
Certificate U
Poem
Are you being versed?
Surreal
Humour

Comments

Submitted by Di_Hard on

I am imagining the fly learning how to figure skate on the polished floor, sliding elegantly under chairs to catch any crumbs that might fall :0)

Very difficult to be a fly and afraid of heights! I knew someone whose horse kept being ill, till the vet worked out he was allergic to hay

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Hello Di.
After I wrote about a fly on the wall I started speculating about what would happen if a housefly suffered from vertigo. I know that it is an absurd idea which defies common sense and goes against the scientific explanation that vertigo is a sensation of spinning dizziness and not, as many people maintain, a fear of heights. It is often associated with looking down from a great height but can refer to spells of dizziness caused by problems in the inner ear or brain.
Yet the funny side of such a situation can be envisaged if we divorce ourselves from reality.
Your mention of the horse reminds me of the fictional story of the donkey who died because its food rations had been gradually reduced to nothing. ”What a shame this should happen now that he had learnt to go without food!”, said its owner.

Luigi x