The Make Believe Promises Poem by Robert Rorabeck

The artificial nursery clouded over, and the sweethearts
Of the workplace stopped holding hands:
She went back to her children, stepping on eggs-
And the basket that he set for her remained at the lip
Of the well:
The trees waited too, barebacked, and the sun rode
Golden through them,
Kissing their necks, bringing to them the rumors
Of soft fire, the daydreams of the arboreal classroom,
While birds made love letters in the sky-
She, at first, got pregnant by another man: and then
More and more pregnant- the sea was deluded,
And there were too many airplanes in the sky:
People kept on moving into her neighborhood, only to
Go away to work, and then to come home again,
And little boys who were not hers disappeared onto roofs
In the middle of the afternoon, like blind fireworks without
Any holidays;
And she sat there, never mindful, the pool rippling
With the make believe promises that were somehow made
To fit around her without any life at all.