Object Lesson

So much depends upon a swallowed key

Swimming inside you with flakes of croissant

Both are baptized by swiftly swallowed tea

Potion enough to make a mad savant

Writhe and sputter to wrest limbs from constraint

Flesh contorted into a soft prayer

To the obscure god of entreaties, faint

Uttered by the most dangerous player

Of a game ancient as any we play

With freedom as its gleaming, taunting prize

And every inch of struggle on display

The better to educate doubting eyes

Whatever holds you fast and won't let go

You can bravely escape; that you must know