Laughing as they could in their rooms of the groomless <br />Proud: <br />The way they looked up on their brooms sweeping up in the <br />Sky far away from how I felt: <br />Glistening from the school yard, making a marmalade sweep of <br />My tomb; <br />And I thought that it looked so pretty, and the lions could <br />Almost be heard yawning- <br />Like the alligators- like the pyramids: and Alma got up in the sleek <br />Sunshine and arose: <br />Her armpits glossy with sweat and primrose: and the coral <br />Snakes watched her from the windowsill as she dressed: <br />And the otters played- and then they regressed: <br />And the bicycles all looked sloppy beneath the slopes of <br />Turpentine: <br />And I got on one of the seats on the bus as it drove down the <br />Street and I bit my lip; <br />I bit my tongue- and then it returned us from <br />School to our home, <br />Like children pursuing ants on a baseball diamond: <br />All I could think of was to make her mine- as the clouds shed <br />Their illusions in the sky: <br />But waiting for us at home was only lonely cartoons: <br />As it happened- the muse, the afternoon goddess was nowhere <br />Around; <br />But the paper airplanes folded up upon themselves, and the aircondition <br />Cursed the stewardesses who were also nowhere around.<br /><br />Robert Rorabeck<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-afternoon-goddess/
