Turning 50

It's nothing
at first. A hair moves
on your arm.

You see the first droplet
on your skin
only after you feel the next.

You look up. The sky
is clear blue.
The world is strange.

Then you feel
another droplet, and maybe
something is happening.

The air fills with
strings of water.
You'd go inside, but you have

things to do out here.
You begin to understand
how a fish never feels wet.

Copyright © 2005 Bruce A. Jacobs All rights reserved
from Beloit Poetry Journal
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission