his paper propped against the electric toaster <br />(nicely adjusted to his morning use), <br />Daniel at breakfast studies world disaster <br />and sips his orange juice. <br />the words dismay him. headlines shrilly chatter <br />of famine, storm, death, pestilence, decay. <br />Daniel is gloomy, reaching for the butter. <br />he shudders at the way <br />war stalks the planet still, and men know hunger, <br />go shelterless, betrayed, may perish soon. <br />the coffee's weak again. in sudden anger <br />Daniel throws down his spoon <br />and broods a moment on the kitchen faucet <br />the plumber mended, but has mended ill; <br />recalls tomorrow means a dental visit, <br />laments the grocery bill. <br />then having shifted from his human shoulder <br />the universal woe, he drains his cup <br />rebukes the weather (surely turning colder), <br />crumples his napkin up <br />and, kissing his wife abruptly at the door, <br />stamps fiercely off to catch the 8:04<br /><br />Phyllis McGinley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/daniel-at-breakfast/
