Protocols

=Protocols by Randal Jarrell = = = =We went there on the train. They had big barges that they towed. = =We stood up, there were so many I was squashed. = =There was a smoke-stack, then they made me wash. = =It was a factory, I think. My mother held me up = =And I could see the ship that made the smoke. = =When I was tired my mother carried me. = =She said, "Don't be afraid." But I was only tired. = =Where we went there is no more. Odessa. = =They had water in a pipe--like rain, but hot; = =The water there is deeper than the world = =And I was tired and fell in in my sleep = =And the water drank me. That is what I think. = =And I said to my mother, "Now I'm washed and dried.” = =My mother hugged me and it smelled like hay = =And that is how you die. And that is how you die. =