04-30-2020, 06:36 AM
To His Small Guest
O little one who yearns to nestle near
my heart, we have in common ignorance:
I don’t know every step your tiny dance
will take, but you know nothing either, dear.
You’d leave me breathless, choking with a fear
that your impulsive growth will by mischance
shut off my life - but that would not enhance
your own: its spread would end when you appear.
Let’s make a pact, you thoughtless, faithless one
who trysts promiscuously with each you touch:
strike young and fair as lightly as you can,
and women less, and those whose breath the Sun
has seared. Then you may bloom and die in such
a lodging as this old, forgotten man.
O little one who yearns to nestle near
my heart, we have in common ignorance:
I don’t know every step your tiny dance
will take, but you know nothing either, dear.
You’d leave me breathless, choking with a fear
that your impulsive growth will by mischance
shut off my life - but that would not enhance
your own: its spread would end when you appear.
Let’s make a pact, you thoughtless, faithless one
who trysts promiscuously with each you touch:
strike young and fair as lightly as you can,
and women less, and those whose breath the Sun
has seared. Then you may bloom and die in such
a lodging as this old, forgotten man.
Non-practicing atheist