Before the apple fell,
We believed in a color-book world
With outlines pre-drawn, coherent.
Broad sketches in case our fumbling fingers
Should reach outside the lines.
We believed in black and white
And that its opposite was “rainbow”
Which twelve Crayolas would suffice to create,
Though twenty-four was better.
Before the apple fell,
We believed in stickers
Like money, except better
Because we learned about permanence
When you shake the paper and stars don’t fall.
That was before the apple fell.
We believed that lines could separate colors
And we did not know about shades,
Like chocolate icing on chocolate cake,
Or the wishes that go up with gone-out flames.
We believed in those too.
But perhaps the wishes did not reach the heavens
Because the icing did not stay sweet forever,
And rainbows stopped growing from finger tips
And when the lines disappeared, we lost.
And then the stars fluttered away.
How did it happen?
Did you hear the apple fall?
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