She asks me
what it was like
When dinosaurs
were around
and was I not
scared.
“Oh..! ” I say
“I’m not that...old! ”
“Oh..? ” she says.
“How long ago
are you then? ”
I pause, &
hesitate:
as if I were
trying to add up
all the time
I’ve been.
“Oh...when I was your age
the earth was flat
& if your were to go
to the edge
of it
you could fall off
(& that was that)
off into empty
space
& drift all the way to the moon! ”
“Don’t be silly! ”
she says.
“Everyone knows
the earth is a balloon.
We did it in school
with Miss Lyons.”
And forgetting
the question
(of our respective ages)
she makes
another mudpie
from the grungy ground
& squashes it flat
as if she were a God
un-creating a Universe
that hadn’t
quite come out right.
“Well, it’s time
for tea! ”
she tells me
& takes my hand
in hers.
I follow her
lead
leaving a shattered
mud universe behind.
Dónall Dempsey
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ages-for-lyn/
