One penguin right-side up one penguin up-
side down…….so that they seem to be asleep
Together holding hands and smiling then
…………I zip the lunchbox stuff it deep
Into the biggest pocket of your backpack
And you have listened know…….it’s time to go
To stand and go you stand you drop your trash in
…………A plastic bag and for a mo-
ment you…….are standing in the kitchen in
The dark I’m standing in the dining room
A wall between us listening…….the bag
…………Rustles like dry leaves…….it will bloom
As fresh as it is now for centuries
After we you…….and I and any leaf
We see today has vanished…….still you pull
…………The drawstring tight…….a flash of grief
Seeing the bag’s mouth puckered like a mouth
I used to think lost paperclips were lonely
And any trash…….and filled my desk with trash
…………When I was maybe I was only
Four five years younger…….than you are…….and wept
From day to day…….but half your face is hid-
den now…….we leave for school…….the things that will
…………Outlive us are already dead