And The Child Draws A World Poem by RIC BASTASA

the teacher asks the child to draw
The world
& the universe

And the child with his Mongol pencil
put a dot
for a start on his clean white bondpaper

(& as his fingers are clumsy
His hands still shaky)

he makes a stretch of a crooked
line

Stretching
& occupying almost all the space of the paper
To make a
Crooked circle

His world

And for his universe
He draws five little stars
crude
A crescent moon A comet moving In a blank space

A space rocket
Is drawn
On the top page in propulsion

A crooked circle The lines hardly meet At a common point
For a world

A little blank space For the universe

And where is God there?
The teacher asks him


You gave no instruction, sir. The child answered.

But He is there, the Child thinks.