As a child you learn so much:
from whipped cream to silverfishes
to be sick and to get well

what is tough, what is dirty
where the fixed spots
are in the whizz

of the grown-ups
and to clean up the toys
you'll need again tomorrow

how long a year is (nine haircuts)
and that you have to sneeze
from hair and tangerines

you learn what tickling is, what
thumb-writing and your favourite colour
is, and maybe even Mikado patience

you swim through the streets
of the planted woods
ahead of dad and mum

there are beetles, tractors and trains
elf-rorquals, wasps' nests
sheepskin and rubber tiles

you learn to get up again
and to walk away
from mum when she asks

it goes?, of course
it goes
by