> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.andyposner.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Puzzle
- URL: https://www.andyposner.org/puzzle/
- Published: 2023-01-14T19:27:29.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-15T05:02:56.000Z
- Description: The rain falls like puzzle pieces dumped from a satin bag in the sky. Excited, my son turns each droplet in his hands...
- Author: Andy
- Tags: poetry, #Migrated-1784090317409, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-15 04:39

The rain falls like puzzle pieces  
dumped from a satin bag in the  
sky. Excited, my son turns each

droplet in his hands, pretends  
that they cohere into whales,  
elephants, dinosaurs; I upbraid

myself for only seeing water in  
the water. Why is it that when  
we learn of a death, we ask if it

was sudden or expected, as though  
there were less pain in foreknowledge  
than surprise? When at last my son

gives up on the rain, he is screaming  
at me to fix it, crying the tears of a  
worshipper who has yet to learn his

idol’s limitations. Should I tell him now,  
or let it dawn on him slowly, like one  
who suspects an illness but refuses

an appointment to confirm the  
diagnosis? Later, in that lovely  
hour when sun and rain twine

like the hands of strangers who  
fall in love, instantly, and stroll  
a city where time doesn’t exist,

I swear that a Robin emerges,  
whole and perfect out of the  
crispness of the air, and flies

away, as real as a poem or magma.  
Where his wings briefly beat is an  
emptiness in the shape of your hand

upon my chest. The floods recede,  
reveal love’s hieroglyphs: Will you  
decipher them with me, my dear?