Bumble bee
The first one in was a bumble bee
Crawled in the window & he stared at me
With lips as thin as you not smiling
Not wide enough for a lie to hide in
The first I saw was a bumble bee

& he told me I'd wasted your precious time
Hitting out at the walls of a tiny mind
He worked his way right through the skin
This thin skin I slumber in
The first I saw that bumble bee

& the next one in was a dancing frog
He had a song for each one I had lost
& he bent his legs around the hours
At the foot of the bed where I had soured
The next one in was a dancing frog

He said, "You never moved, you never danced
Never rode a melody into chance
Never sang one song true enough
To call the birds back to the loft
You never moved, you never danced"
& the next one in was a stipple-back fish
The next one in was a stipple-back fish
He said, "I would grant you three wishes
But I'm not in the business of giving out wishes"
The next one in was a stipple-back fish

& the last I saw the stipple-back fish
The last I saw the stipple-back fish
His gills filled up with the dust
Of a room that's not seen anything much
The last I saw that stipple-back fish

& the last one in was a winter moth
The last one in was a winter moth
Like me he'd nothing to say
He laughed at the fish & fluttered away
The last one in a winter moth

Frantic & flapping & brittle & soft
The last one in that winter moth
Like me he'd nothing to say
He laughed at the fish & fluttered away
The last one in that winter moth