When the weather’s kinda crappy
at least you know you can be happy
that your housework’s getting done
because it’s relatively fun.
On the day’s the weather’s nice
you just want to be outside.
So get some loppers, spades and splinters,
and leave the housework for the winter.
Can you feel the difference
between fifty-five and fifty-seven?
Ninety-one and ninety-three? Nine and eleven?
How about thirty-one and thirty-three?
(I’m talking fahrenheit degrees.)
These two make a difference you can see.
And what is your heart’s melting point?
The two degrees that tip you over?
What tiny change, made one more time,
will make you come alive?
Or kill you, if you are a snowman.
We decided, instead of bringing the car to the mechanic,
or calling it totaled (maybe we should have),
that we would do it ourselves,
“because we could.”
But we couldn’t do it ourselves without
the friend who helped us put the last bolt in,
the friend who helped us push the car back into the garage,
the man who made that YouTube video,
the guy at the auto parts store,
the author of the tear-down manual,
all these people who have helped us
do it “ourselves.”
Sitting with paper, erasers and pencils,
making a plan that will serve as a stencil
to keep us nicely inside the lines,
at least, we hope, most of the time.
For how many days now have you not taken a real nap?
All these days you’ve been painting
and helping mommy
and playing dress-up
and riding to the library.
You are funner then ever now,
but while you’re being all grown up,
could you still sleep like a baby?
And while you can reach the sink
with just a little step stool,
can you still fit neatly in my arms?
Welcome, little child,
snuggle on this side
of the body you were in,
that safe dark place to hide.
We will understand
if you take some time to mourn
the place you’ve left behind.
You won’t always be that warm.
Catch the phone just by the echo of its last ring,
run outside to glimpse the eclipse of the moon,
learn as if it is the first day of summer,
and grow like it’s your last day in the womb.