The Pleasure of Error

 
THE PLEASURE OF ERROR - Kevin Ireland

They had said it was the worst cast

they had made in their life

But it is a mistake to imagine

that there is not all the world's

possible error in the perfect cast

Some imperceptible lift

of the breeze (plus a taste in the air,

a trick of the light, the distraction

of the trajectory of a bird 

or the fall of a leaf, the pull

of the power of the river

against the lower leg,

the balance of all known possiblities

in the mind, the tilt of the planet

on its axis, and the slight edge

of adrenalin in the muscle

that tuned the action of the rod

and the aim of the bone

that was brought down

like a catapult by nerves and sinews)

entirely misled, then corrected

the manner and direction 

in which the fly was laid down

It is only from mistakes

that we see the sense of things,

for the errors of our actions

are the source of adjustments

to knowledge and intuition

and even to the gift for making

the exceptional seem natural

Goodliness is learnt through the art 

of having buggered things up