Little Boy Lost
I asked him “What are you afraid of?”
“Dunno,” he said, “something.” So I said
“Well, you’re in the right world!” — in case
he’d reincarnated from another realm, like
old Buddhists exit meditation with strange
looks on their faces, glints in their eyes —
“because this world is so replete with some-
things, you can spend many lives and loves
ricocheting from one something to another
something, until somethings seem to have
an n minus one relation to other somethings,
implying endless fears if you’re fearful, but
if not, I suggest you downplay reincarnation.
Instead, stop and smell the flowers, maybe
start with carnations then follow your nose
— like the girl whose seasonal walks forever
returned her home, nose dusted with pollen.”
Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.
Yes indeed!
Thank you Ed.