The rain was spitting gracefully
The wind was whistling bright
A little chicken came to me
And whispered, “Hold me tight.”
I held the little chicken
And I sang a lullaby
The chicken grunted, “Sing!
But do not look me in the eye.”
I closed my eyes for safety
And I held the chicken tight
I sang until my throat was raw
I sang throughout the night.
And when the rain had ceased to spit
And wind had ceased to blow
I told the chicken, “Chicken, dear…
It’s time for you to go.”
“Keep singing!” growled the chicken
“Sing an endless lullaby!
And if you stop, I warn you
I shall look you in the eye.”
“For shame!” I cried, “Who taught you
Such bad manners, child? Tut-tut!
I defy your ultimatum!
And besides, my eyes are shut!”
“They can’t be shut forever!”
Cried the chicken, “So I’ll wait.
They have to open sometime.
They are not a padlocked gate.”
“Your silly threats,” I told the bird
“Are far too much to swallow.
I’ll go home with my eyes closed
If you want to, you can follow.”
I started stumbling home then
Feeling blindly all the way
I thought the chicken would get bored
Alas, he did not stray.
He followed right behind me
And repeated, “I advise
You get around to singing
Or I’ll look you in the eyes.”
“Shut up!” I said, “I’ve sung enough.
You are a greedy brat.
I don’t take orders from a fowl.
A foul fowl, at that.”
It took a year to stumble home
Without the use of sight
With eyelids shut, I felt myself
A prisoner of night.
And there were times I thought
“Oh hell, I’ll open up my eyes!”
But I feared that awful chicken
And his threats of my demise.
“You still won’t sing?” the chicken asked
Once I had reached my home
“Well, then I’ll have to follow you
Wherever you may roam.”
“I will not roam,” I told him
“I shall stay here in my house.
And hope that you are bitten
By a rabid little mouse!”
I stayed for years; but couldn’t read
Or even watch the skies
Because, from fear and stubbornness,
I would not blink my eyes.
“I’m telling you,” the chicken said
“If you would only sing
A never-ending lullaby
I wouldn’t do a thing.”
“No!” I said, and shook my head
And said aloud my prayer:
“May a rabid mouse attack you
Or perhaps a rabid bear.”
But the chicken wasn’t bitten
So we carried on that way
He a crook, and me a blind man
‘Til I reached my dying day.
“And now you’ll die,” he whispered
“Yes, I know,” I said. “Time flies.”
“You’ve naught to lose,” he told me
“Won’t you open up your eyes?”
“I’m dying, so I might as well.”
I said. “At least I’ll try.”
“Be warned,” he said, “For when you do
I’ll look you in the eye.”
I opened up my eyes and saw
The chicken staring back
His eyeballs held the cosmos
Whirling gently through the black
And in that black, I realized
There was pure and total trust
For he and I were merely specks
Of sparkling cosmic dust.
“Oh, endless universe!” I gasped.
“Why did I try to hide?”
The chicken winked, and I did too
And that is how we died.
