#166Kevin Brophy "One thing bursts from another'

#166 ‘One thing bursts from another’

I have been told that once upon a time

a child came upon a school bell and rang it

in a doorway

on a dusty street far from here.

As she rang the bell children came out to play.

The children had balls, string, chalk,

and high yelling voices.

Compelled, the dogs followed them out.

Soon the children closed their eyes

and spun around

until the world was lost.

Jack tumbled to his knees, soldiers

as many as you please shot each other.

Jill needed band-aids on her boils.

Bibles flew into the ceilings of the houses.

Every sandwich turned to crumbs

in the children’s fists.

Every king was looking for a kingdom.

At last the children stopped their talk

and dressed up as their parents.

No one was the leader of this free world.

Every dog was bitten twice.

The spell was cast.

There were, I have been told,

six brothers still looking for their swan wings,

another held a white note that fluttered

like a wounded bird in his hand,

a girl was making shirts

from bark, grass, seeds, dust and feathers.