CLIMBING

Chanont, you’ve inched and sidled, crept and crawled,
Waiting for time to grow your archless blocky
Triangular leg-ends to where they find a gawky
Balance supporting a proud but tottering toddle.

Now the stage of staggering around is past.
You move with a not ungraceful strut, a start
On ambulation. But next you set your heart
On the vertical dimension. Having mastered

Self-erecting, next comes climbing up,
The easy part; climbing down is tricky,
So stairs and sofas, beds and chairs are lucky;
Tables can leave you stranded and howling for help.

Okay, we know what it’s like to want a magician
To help us escape from instinctively followed ambition.

(93, March 21, 1993)

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