Day 18: Rubāʿī
A rubāʿī (plural rubāʿiyāt) is a Persian poetic form made up of a four-line stanza with an AABA rhyme scheme. It turns out Robert Frost’s “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” is one of the most famous examples, which means the golden shovel I wrote on Day 5 was also made up of rubāʿiyāt.
I remember ordering a small drink at a movie theater and, after seeing how gigantic it was, exclaimed that no wonder so many people in this country are overweight. I didn’t quite mean to say it as loud as I did and felt a lot of people glaring at me. This poem is about the other cause of the problem.
Sloth
How little time are we on our feet?
Seated at our desks, curled up on the couch,
too lazy to get up and make something to eat,
driving somewhere right down the street.
We circle the lot for a closer spot,
take the elevator without a thought,
carry everything at once to save a trip,
get home delivery for most things we’ve bought.
No wonder 2/3 of us are overweight.
Inertia is not a desirable state.
Did we forget what it’s like to take a walk?
We’ll all be dead of heart attacks at this rate.
The Cynical Optimist 