And the kids told him that Father Tracy smoked cigars
And left butts on the pews
And sometimes they would burn holes
That was the year his sister got glasses
with thick lenses and black frames
And the girl around the comer
laughed
when he asked her to see Santa Claus
And the kids told him why
his mother and father kissed a lot
And his father never tucked him in bed at night
And his father got mad
when he cried for him to do it.
Once on a paper torn from his notebook
he authored a poem
And he called it "Innocence: A Question"
because that was the question about his girl
And that is what it was all about
And his professor gave him an A