Their First Footsteps Poem by Robert Rorabeck

When the day is saying what it meant
And ultimately lying down for the unctions of
Jasmines, what fairies will play with the cats
As their owners work all night at some carwash
Or roller-rink,
And the stewardesses take all of the time
To the skyâ€"hopping and gallivanting like tree frogsâ€"
Like knights with copper wingsâ€"
I wonder how many corsages have bloomed for them
At so many airports underneath the moons:
Sometimes they must feel as if they are upon other
Planetsâ€"taking their first footsteps out into
The neophyte citiesâ€"their wings drying in the background:
They are in high school again,
Their heavens have touched the ground.