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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE CHANGELING, by THOMAS MCGRATH Poet's Biography
First Line: Squatting, serious
Last Line: These little boys can never, never return
Subject(s): Change; Children; Growth; Play; Childhood
First Line: Squatting, serious
Last Line: These little boys can never, never return
Subject(s): Change; Children; Growth; Play; Childhood
Squatting, serious,
His small hand locked on my middle finger,
He digs a shallow hole in the earth, buries
His "wishing stone," covers it up,
Forgets it, maybe.
What will he find if he ever comes back to this place?
He is older
Coarser perhaps his hands already
Hardened from holding a gun maybe from stroking the wrong women
From labor and money.
If he remembers this place the secret
Place he has hidden his luck, by the blasted tree by the hidden
Pool, by the rock, by the river, in the hollow hill of a cave
-- Whatever he finds, it will be his no longer.
These little boys can never, never return.
Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org
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