Lyrics

When "Icy Conditions" would suffice,
why the existential uncertainty?

The Schrodinger's Cat of road signs-
Does the ice exist or not? And do we believe this can be known?
This odd minute-to-minute failure to adhere
to the certainty of its being
and its present state:
What had been of concern perhaps no longer is-
or the opposite may be true.

Did an icy condition exist at 11:15 this morning?
Had it ceased to exist at noon,
warmed to a puddle by sun on asphalt?
Would we then have a sign that says
"Icy conditions may have existed at some time
or may exist at some time in the future"
?

Perhaps we need a larger sign.
A paragraph, not a sentence.
Perhaps we might create a universal symbol:
An invisible cat, a fragile vial of poison in a box.
A deteriorating (or non-deteriorating) atom.
A question mark. And an observer
ignorant as to what horror may (or may not) be inside.

Are we afraid of liability if we guess wrong?
Hence the hedging of bets, the dodging of doubt?
Is there a sign that says
"A rock may fall on your head...
or it may not"
or, "Perhaps you may slide off this cliff?"
Perhaps we do not need this sign at all.

Why do we need the qualifier?
To give and contradict information simultaneously
defeats the purpose, does it not?
Is the nod to chaos some sign of acquiescence?
Or perhaps it is only the stuff of realism:
Strings and particles, particles and string. Entropy exists.

Recently, a broken friendship informed me
that icy conditions do now exist
where once they did not.
Uncertainty is all there is.
Why make it worse?