On Something Soothing Taught in Classes

                 “Feel like a child / Who comes on a scene / Of adult reconciling, /
                And can understand nothing / But the unusual laughter, /
                And starts to be happy.”
                                                                                Larkin, Coming

Numb to adult secrets, like this child in fact
While Time, and Space, and Nature play their reasons
Beyond one’s grasp, you, sensitive to seasons
Have moods depend on how these grown-ups act.

Albeit a small life, guiltless and bare
No “Nature” can embrace its quiet scope
Larger than nursery (“Time”, “Space”), you elope
Toward climes the principled must fail to share.

Since life knows no beyond in time or space
Life’s present, neither after nor before
Since, with her fluffs and feathers quivering

Immutable nature is a fickle thing
That freezes at each moment of embrace
No bird can trill what spring’s eventually for.

July 30, 2023