poetry
 
LULLABYE
 
 
Don't sleep. Don't sleep. Don't sleep.
 
Only close your eyes and wonder
and count
(Without counting on your fingers and toes)
how many fingers and toes you own.
 
One, two, three, four, five.
One, two, three, four, five.
One, two, three, four, five.
One, two, three, four, five.
 
And ask: "How many pins would you need
to fasten the fattest whale in the sea
to Mount Kilamanjaro?"
And answer.
 
Count your teeth.
Thirty-two? Twenty-three? Four? One? None?
 
And ask: "How many feet of ocean stand above you?"
And answer.
 
Count the hairs on your head...
 
And ask: "What was it like when you were a wave?"
Reach up, grab a fish. Answer.
 
Don't sleep.
 
Scratch your chin with your knees.
Fold yourself like a letter.
Dangle like a silver chime.
 
Don't sleep.
 
And in the morning
draw us up bright triangles of silver rings.