'BEN'S LETTER TO THE WORLD' (for BKL on his birthday)

BEN'S LETTER TO THE WORLD
(for BKL on his eleventh birthday)


Watch out world, I'm coming after you!
(it'll take awhile though, I've got schooling still to do)

I know you're much older, and a whole lot bigger,
so I'll be taking my time, while I'm trying to figure

how to get you roped and tied and branded.
But, know this, World! ... before I've ended

I'm gonna ride you down and put my brand on you!
...and listen world! ...I'm going to make you LIKE it too!

Right now I'm looking you all over, as I question, poke, and prod,
questions about your everything: your gravity, your places -- your God...

but I'll tell you now, world, when I'm gone, and you're still spinning,
folks will smile and say:

"Old Ben, was grinning
even at his very end,
even when he faced the Dark,
because he TAMED that bucking world,
and Old Ben, he surely left his mark!"
-jjorge