Where The World Came From Poem by Max Reif

I woke up this morning
And the world got out of bed before me.

The world got out of bed
Before I opened my eyes—
It was putting on its clothes,
And when I opened my eyes
It was fully dressed.

It's always like that.
I try to surprise the world
Getting out of bed,
But it's too fast.
It's like playing slap-hands
With your own shadow.

You're a sly one, world!
You were in your bed
In your deep cave
Way inside my eyes,
And when I opened them
You leaped out
And acted like you
Were always out here.

When I'm in my bed,
You're in your bed.
When I sleep,
Even my bed is in your bed,
Even my body has gone inside me.

Oh, how I'd like to
Wake up when sleeping.
You wouldn't be there,
I wouldn't be there.
But you're too
Good at your game.

I have to go on living
As though I'm in you, world,
Because I can never catch you
When you're in me,
There in my belly
Like Jonah in the whale.

Even the beggar
On the sidewalk
Knows the world
Came out of him.
That's why he's so confused —
He knows
He's really a king.

I can't tell these
People around here
That they came out
Of me, though,
They'd just deny it.

One in a million might say,
'No, you came out of me! '
And we could argue about it —
Or maybe something wonderful
would happen.