My Girl

"Poor thing,

You woke up in a tree that was burning.

Climbed high, dear,

Didn’t you?

Because you can,

Because you always do.

"That’s the thing about scale:

Way up there,

You see the world turning.

Because you can,

And you do.

Clear as yellow leaves twirling on down

to the ground in the Fall.

"Aren’t you queer?

Always gazing

Always praising

Always tripping over everything

In plain sight.

Nothing wrong with the nest,

Sweet worry-warbler.

Or aren’t you grateful for the roof over your head

Beneath my window?

"Find another view

Because you can

Because you do

Because you need to come to grips

With the deal.

Papers, signed.

See now—it’s a controlled burn.

Great people, important, powerful people shook on it.

Unfortunate that spot you like has got to go,

Where the pine cones grow like mistletoe,

But anywho,

Miss: It’s time to find somewhere else to play."

“Mightn't you have called me down from there,

Sir,

Before you began burning?”