listens to the noises outside
unshutters his window and peers out
but sees only the barren yard
where grass has failed for the third year
a wall protects him and the house
from the trees outside it
which gather in a darkness
deeper than the night's
it is out there, he's sure
in that darkness under the trees
that those noises come from
no one has told him that he can't
or mustn't explore them in the dark
he tests his memories
no, every warning, every forbidding
has come in daylight, he smiles
dresses in clothes, sneaks out
of his bedroom, along the hall's edge
down the stairs, out through the kitchen
through the back door, past the servants' house
back, back, back, beyond the strange wall
where a smaller wall lets him mount it
then clamber to a taller wall
and from it mount the outside wall
where he must gather all his courage
hang by his hands
and drop
to the ground below then wait
nothing assaults him
after a while
the noises that tease at his curiosity resume
he smiles
squares his shoulders
marches
right up to where the trees begin
he takes a breath and listens one more time
then steps in
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