Sharp Objects

What comes to mind
When someone mentions sharp objects?
Perhaps protruding nails or shards of glass
A broken fence with wayward barbed wire
Exposed lawnmower blades as you cut the grass

But hazards are not always confined
To factory or workshop, garden or atelier
The garage by no means the only source of danger
Nor industrial sites the exclusive minefield
Where accidents might yet prove a life-changer

It depends on how we define a sharp object
Is it always necessary to be razor-edged?
There in no doubt that tools and machines
Do posses a kind of ‘inherent vice’
Often presenting an edge that is keen

But I would wish to suggest
Sharp objects may encompass a wider sui generis
Than simply inanimate gadgets and useful devices
Lots of our fellow human beings can be pretty sharp
With personalities as if enlivened by spices

So when we are warned to beware of sharp objects
It is more than protective clothing we seek
We may have to prepare for the barbs and sneers
From the critical, sarcastic or ironic tongue
Which would destroy our hopes and raise our fears

Indeed the world we have to inhabit
Can often draw us up extremely sharply
A sudden change of fortune might arise
Piercing our comfortable carapace
Heralding the most unwelcome surprise

So my plea is that we may remain vigilant
For pointed dangers lurking all around
Not just the equipment of the artisan
But sharpness from whatever source
Potential risk from everyman

Ken Fisher