Four Pennies

Baby don't cry:
we'll be mother & father &
day after day
we'll have bread & meat & milk &
oranges & sing songs to
sleep & wake up, you'll see;

every once in a while
we'll say over by heart
the names we know the birds by &
names of stars we know,
& close eyes & close
hands inside the grown hands & go

keep time & follow the words.
Baby don't cry:
this is where we live,
here is where we have our
breakfast & birthday
red boots & red shoes;

one penny is yours to keep,
one penny is mine to keep,
one more for the story & one
more for the storyteller who
told me to tell you
it comes true.

MARTHA ZWEIG lives with her cats Magnolia P., Isosceles, Curly, Heather, and Clementine in the woods of Vermont.