He buys a glass mask; now under the water he can see.
He buys frogfeet to swim to what he sees, and a tube
so he can breathe. After a while he buys a spear
with three barbs, and though he draws the line at a gun with elastics,
now he can impale what he sees. Everything stays away then,
of course, but he is fascinated by his new powers,
he carries his things everywhere in a canvas bag,
and some nights he gets up secretly and in the dark he puts it all on
and gazes at his watery reflection in the mirror of the sideboard.
Everyone sleeps, and the soft flopping of his feet through the house
barely disturbs the mice.