I received an award! What I wrote was adored!
I spent 25 seconds elated.
Then, lickety-split, a rejection note hit –
but I quickly stopped feeling deflated.
The universe must balance triumph with bust:
so it’s always and ever been fated.
And now that I knew which bad thing had come true,
my fear of a worse one abated.
No Covid for me! No infarction, TB,
highway pileup or snakebite awaited!
I was safe from all harm! . . . Then I thought with alarm
Of the next time my writing’s not hated.
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