Fail-Safe Poem by Robert Rorabeck

It is impossible for you to fail, but you have already
Begun- Your family is on a honeymoon,
As swift as you the rivers run:
All your exercise is for the tourism of paddle-boats;
They think you are infinitely beautiful,
But they don’t want to have to pay for anything that is
Beautiful
If it can be stolen away, and used to populate their
Keyholes and garages;
And I have been above them; I have been at the top of
A flag-pole,
And watched the weathers roll in to cover you:
They were always watching you, as I was watching them,
And saw you reflected as if through the perfect somnambulance
Of a bath;
Or I am just lying, and I still live with my parents,
But now our home has wheels and there are no dogs.
The trees still lead down to the canal, and if I were to ever
Step across I am sure I would not end up in the trailer park
Which seems to be there,
But underneath the lotus flowers they are cutting for your
Hair;
And you are in your store so fair with the foot traffic coming in,
The middle-class families of gypsies. I know they will buy everything,
Because the weathers are like your guardian angels,
Burning rubber off the lips of mountains;
And they are just as sure as I am that you can never fail.