Why Children Cry

Children cry over lost
Balloons for fear they shall lose
Much more. That in adult life they
Shall lose the one thing which made them
human.

Adults do not cry except at funerals
and breakups, or when a pet dies,
Because all dream-deaths are
Funneled, like quiet musicians
Into one place.

Into the auditorium of disappointent.
Into the lair of lost innocence.
Into the horrors of losing out.

Here they lay all their flowers
In one tangled heap.