Action at a Distance

Newton was quite wrong
we discovered in the end,
but he got us to the moon and back,

and of course words aren't the world
but they take us where we want to be,
not with transistors or Warp Drive but

as our son blows gunsmoke from his fingertip,
uncertainty creeps over me, like a feeling
that I'm being watched, and your "Well?"

informs me that I missed your last question,
and he's fallen, he's playing dead,
though he doesn't know I'm watching.

You touch my shoulder. "WhatÕs wrong?"
As his eyes half open they're staring
straight at me. "Nothing".

But the babysitter's let us down again,
and on a booked table somewhere,
candles are being blown out.

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tpl@eng.cam.ac.uk