Lullaby

Paula Mendoza

Blame's anesthetic.
Sleep, a mercy.
Learn anew: Cruelty

belongs to who's doing;
Sad, to who's done to;
and the lub-dub iambic I do

metes a heart's dumb going
with no clue as to where.

/

An eye sees only
that here's farther
than you counted on

when near to was
necessary, was all.
Not yet's narcotic.

Where the worms
can't get you is still
nowhere.

/

In this meantime, dream
a little dream a little.
Gently down. Gently.