Astoria, 33X48, oil on panel, Gary Buhler
Audio for “FOR AGES,” Charles Springer
FOR AGES
Secretly at night
when moms and dads sleep
in their beds, storks fly
through the nursery windows,
gather tears in tiny vials
from the crybabies.
Storks for ages
have been taking tears back
to the closest ocean.
Once in a while
a stork will get shot down
where the tiny vials are
considered contraband.
The tears get dumped
into a pristine lake or stream;
its pollywogs and minnows
perish from the salt.
When the crybabies
come of age, some
pluck their eyes out. Some
stick ice picks
through their eardrums.
Some never open up
their throats.
It’s been this way
for ages. Here,
feel these in your palm,
tears the storks shed.
Familiar?
_____________
Charles Springer