There is a syntax
a toddler applies to name the stars
she’s never seen

There’s another one at bedtime,
the damnation-and-entreaty dialect
of a disappointed angel

It’s a rough tongue, roughly as relevant
to mom and dad as we are
to the surface of the earth

In it, to tell only the truth
is tantamount to using only half
the letters in the alphabet

– Colin Dodds