Birthday

She lives in this house over there
has her world outside it
scrabbles in the earth with her fingers and her mouth
she's five years old

Threads worms on a string
keeps spiders in her pocket
collects fly wings in a jar
scrubs horse flies and
pinches them on a line

She has one friend, he lives next door
they're listenening to the weather
he knows how many freckles she's got
she scratches his beard

She's painting huge books
and glues them together
they saw a big raven
it glided down the sky
she touched it

Today is a birthday
they're smoking cigars
he's got a chain of flowers
and sows a bird in her knickers

They're smoking cigars
they lie in the bathtub
a chain of flowers