The Lemonade Stand Poem by L'Angley S Delmonte

You used to lie in bed
Fingers tracing down to
Count your ribs
One at a time
Mumbling the numbers
There were nine
(so she said)
on each side.
You were too young
To die

So you waited to come of age
Threw yourself a
Nice big birthday party
Paid the circus to perform
Since they were in town
Though you always hated
Clowns
It was too much to have
A smile and a frown
On one man
Pigments rushing down
His face, bleeding into one
Unrecognisable
Colour

You said
Please, sir, there's no need to cry
Asked him why
He would do that
He said
You're still too young to die

You told him
It was okay because of
How welcoming Death was, always,
How handsome.

He was
(or so she said)
Quite the gentleman.

You said,
With a charming smile
Though your eyes were
Painted on upside down,
Death is here,
Look.
I can tell him from the rest because
He has twenty ribs
Nine on each side

She said
That makes eighteen
But she doesn't know that
Something's
Always
Missing