Earth as a Peppercorn

Somebody made a model of

Earth as a peppercorn.

Mars is a pinhead,

Neptune is a coffee bean.

What does any of it matter

When the fields out there

Are so barren after the winter harvest and

I am here in the lavatory

Hiding from my children?

They want me to be an aeroplane,

A pirate, an astronaut, any

Number of things I can scarcely

Comprehend. Eventually

It’s fine because I tell myself it’s fine,

And although the peppercorn

Lies on the kitchen table

Unappreciated, I resolve to

Show them how long it takes

To find the sun, to walk them out

Across the flat and empty fields

Of this world, so intolerably small.