Once

 

Once I thought that I could walk

Around the world and back again

On an ancient, sloping root-buckled sidewalk

Swept by the orbiting, ice-skater’s spin

 

 

Everyone would call me son

In cities arranged by playground grass,

On leaf-scattered streets full of kids on the run

Lit by the moon through carnival glass

 

I’d see the world that was meant to be,

Home for a boy’s untethered heart,

 Sun-weathered doors swung open to greet me,

Those we love who never part

 

 

Once I thought that I could walk

Around the world and back again

You’d think I did by the way I talk

Of what a world the world was then