Time to Grow Up Where There's No Time at All

You simply do not exist, they assert with buttoned-up stares,
Though I’ve detected salty scents on the curled tongues of butterflies,
And feet-shapes where the grass and clover straighten their necks.
Get your head out of the mist, they keep telling me,
There are no such beasts in the world.
But I think I saw you once, at the corner of my eye.
Yes, I truly believe I did! For you were tall and fleshy and sad,

Just like the drawings in our books of lore: those spider-silk pages

Guiding my dreams beyond the moonlight.

(From the book The Hunchback's Captive and Others)