The Split-Second Decision

As my lawnmower hummed, my mind was elsewhere,

School studies, my daughter, and my mother’s care.

In haste, I pulled the equipment too near,

As I fell backward, I feared a deep tear.

Yet time froze in a mindless pause,

Steel teeth grinding, fate’s sharp jaws.

My chest or foot? A choice I needed to make,

I kicked the mower and endured the searing ache.

Seventy-eight stitches, and six months confined,

A torn toe, a humbled mind.

In that moment of peril, my future was brightly shown,

That haste plants the seeds of pain we have sown

Yet as my healing and recovery occurred,

A precious everlasting lesson was learned:

Cutting corners should always be spurned.