Zoo of the Stars.

I, gone on far too far ahead,
Like a child wandered off in dread
Staring beyond the bars
Deep within the zoo of stars

Alone and wondering why
All the animals in the sky
Don’t run…don’t simply fly?

Lost suddenly inside a stampede of light.
The firmament left carelessly unbolt.
Constellations unpent like zebra colts.
Starry hoofs escapading in heedless flight.

Fleeing toward planes re-opened,
Mere stellar mayhem, a spree of minutes eloped ,
A vision which only a child could cope:

Dancing with kids, a pupil of rams
Taught to catapult seas of side-stepping crabs
Over the backs of rampaging bulls
Floating delicately, hand in hand, with fools

Those twins beside me, milking a lioness
Spooning her cream to a scorpion prioress
Like only a virgin child can, unborn –deathless

Unscalable distance, unweighable time
A rainbow arrow knocking a goat from a mountaintop
Washed down to the sea by jugs of clear wine
Into a school without a bell, swimming non-stop.

Until an adult in consternation might say,
“There you are! …Whew!
Why do you always stray?
We were worried sick about you.”

“Now, go on, get back in line. Not another pause!
We should thank our lucky stars
You didn't find your way through one of those bars."