Once when but a callow youth

from the library forsooth

I borrowed a book on the art of ju jitsu

with crude and basic plans of action

of assailants and defenders'

over reaction..

 

With these moves inside my head

to school I went with wary tread

until a boy quite lumpy and large

set upon my fuselage

 

stampeding, bull- like as I cowered

sweating and snorting

descended upon me

and full of experiment

I dropped to my knee

 

helped him gracefully over my head

and turned to see his robust descent

with a whoof and a clatter

his bravado shattered.

 

Even to this very day

I think of ju jitsu's interplay.