Spilt Milk

When I first spied it

It was already listing to the  starboard side

Having been surreptitiously slipped out of its berth in the icebox 

Through the kitchen and the dining room and

Almost out onto the open  table

Almost and

Then as almost slipped away

I saw it come crashing back to the ground

It's white prow

Hitting first and

Bleeding

Gushing

Leaking white in all directions and
Calling out to the fully aware, alert, and prepared

To streak across across the sand 

Life preserver in hand

To save lives and 

Assign responsibility

To sound the alarm and

Begin the rescue operation

With a reluctant and ineffectual awareness

Of the limits of feasible deniability and 

The inevitable cleanup to follow