Virgil Watched Them

Virgil watched them
Crossing the river away from him
The fathers without their children
Only a little while

Was he smiling
-Ly
-Ily
At Death the Golden Age

Falling backwards
In the Chinese restaurant
The tiniest fireman
I could see that he was smiling

Plenty of children in Arcady without fathers 
Our friends long before sundown

Copyright © 2002 by Donald Revell. Reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press. All rights reserved.