Climbing Everest

At four thirty in the morning
The stairs
Seem like the Himalayas
So maybe
If I put my son on the top of K-2 or
Everest and
Had him scream that he couldn’t find his stuffed turtle
I could reach the summit
Maybe if I had him ride in a car
A few paces ahead of me
Screaming about how the covers were tangled
I could run another marathon and
Break four hours though
His sister might have to be sleeping in the car next to him
It’s really too bad there is no place to put him
On the other side of a completed novel or
A good paying and interesting job but
There isn’t
It’s just easier to put him to bed
In his crib
Upstairs in Levittown and
That’s OK because
It would be awfully hard
To go back to sleep right away
After climbing Everest