1.
Hang on—is this
a contest
to be won,
or a problem
that needs
solving? Wait—look
at how! All the words
you need
are here, each piece pre-
invented.
2.
This is not
black and white.
Ham and eggs
are black and white,
things—are black
and white, not this.
This
is something different.
Unless,
maybe you've just been
terribly impatient—with
the time it's been taking
the light
to get here.
3.
Your best defense has been
to grow
old, gradually
having come to depend
on a tremendous field
of specialists
to whom
you're worth more alive
than dead. Even
Better yet—despite this,
you still get
to keep
such secrets
beneath
your kingly cap: even
the baristas,
for instance—to think,
they'll never know
your pauper
origins,
your real
last name.