Three children prompting death- skipped school br Together to look into your eyes, br And you just smiled as if you didn’t believe in death, br And the ice-cream man didn’t come- br The air-plants didn’t bloom- The liquor was watered br Down, br And the swing-set didn’t arc high enough for any br Of the children to tickle papa’s feet: br And I laid out somewhere at the bottom of Michigan br Listening to my great-uncle water-ski, br His powerboat making the noise I would like you to br Make if I could pull your motor, br Put my tongue to your pistil and steal what is necessary br For a florist shop to survive; br But I still have both of my legs, and even scarred the pain br Is not great enough to start a fire from fiddling sticks: br Yes, the star falls, the planes die, br The UFOs pick up strange hitchhikers, but it is yet not br Enough to realize the bloom of the cactus flower, br The strange ornithologies my father whispered last in my br Ear as he took up his walking stick and struck out on br Your trail, hoping to prove the sweet adulteries which br Were never for sale in any store in his neighborhood; br And even then your eyes turned away, br Gesticulating long-lashed upon other men who sat like kings br In other hemispheres even as they too turned away.