Somersaults
bending over backwards just to get a few more kind words
I smile sweetly at the birds that are singing in the trees.
Scraping knees upon the sidewalk
I talk a storm up to the strangers
but the danger of this is
I might go home all alone.

And in the halo round the kitchen light
that shouts its warning to the night
I dance with moths and fireflies.
To the lies that stain humanity
I say,
'come do a dance and then you'll see
just how the depths of poverty
drown me in all
humility
I beg you stay
and dance with me'

And silence ranges through the evening air
as if no sound could ever care
that someone here just wants to share
a moment
with tranquility.

Another flip and one more trip flat on my face
I never learn and just in case I do
I trip again
flip again
go off the rails and take another ship again
to sail off in the pouring rain
and who is there to shame me into stopping
this shopping for tortures?