Fifty Hats Poem by Brian Wake

A hunter, Daniel ponders, looking down
from the safety of his tree, its claw-scored bough
barkless in the quiet heat, that can impose
on any creature all the power of the human mind,
will surely know how, in its terror, in its quest
to get away, a lion might behave.

And sometimes, Daniels thinks, it could be said,
and balancing ideas on his head like fifty hats,
that we are bravest when afraid, wisest
when we fail and steadier for having fallen down.

He contemplates, from his high tree, the need to give
and take, blend most with least and learn to hang
competitive advantage on the wall, like coats off
for a fight, and to face even a lion beast to beast.