"What were you trying to say?" she asked,
Unimpressed--
(Capricorns and editors
Are always unimpressed.)
"Why, I thought I spoke
Eternal truths, I wrote
The first real words
In centuries
Of unimportant stuff--
I really was quite good,"--
And added, aside,
"And incredibly modest."
She stared a while, then smiled,
And said "by the way,
Your children? How are they?"
And universal truth
And what the world
Will be or won't
Came back to kids--
On paper or in life
Children
Are always
The universal truth.