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ClassicsJohn Updike
I saw my toes the other day. I hadn't looked at them for months. Indeed, they might have passed away. And yet they were my best friends once. When I was small, I knew them well. I counted on them up to ten And put them in my mouth to tell The larger from the lesser. Then I loved them better than my ears, My elbows, adenoids, and heart. But with the swelling of the years We drifted, toes and I, apart. Now, gnarled and pale, each said, j'accuse!-- I hid them quickly in my shoes.
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In Extremis
I saw my toes the other day. I hadn't looked at them for months. Indeed, they might have passed away. And yet they were my best friends once. When I was small, I knew them well. I counted on them up to ten And put them in my mouth to tell The larger from the lesser. Then I loved them better than my ears, My elbows, adenoids, and heart. But with the swelling of the years We drifted, toes and I, apart. Now, gnarled and pale, each said, j'accuse!-- I hid them quickly in my shoes.
Classics
John Updike
1932 - 2009/American