we grow up

we grow up

when I was a kid it would rain and earthworms
would come from somewhere and be everywhere.
by the thousands at the drains, my sister and I
would run as the rainbow came out to the curbs
and gather them, worms for the helpless taking.

in our hands, a living spaghetti of fun would coil
and fret, as we laughed, kneeling. no conquering
knight proud of plunder ever rejoiced as we did
after a thunder. and I wonder, I will tell you what
it is I wonder. I ask where have the worms gone.

tonight I walked home in a downpour and I felt
my entire childhood a farce, a false history. there
are no worms in the curbs, drifting anywhere and
no one running. sadder still, if worms in squiggly
mountains squirmed, even I would keep walking.

© Ciprianowords Inc. 2008