The Aliens on the Swings

The aliens like the swings
Because where they're from
There are no swings

There are slides
There are seesaws
There are turtles who tap dance
And large balls of peanut butter and jelly
That are hunted and killed
So that sandwiches can be made

But there are no swings

So the aliens let the ship hover
Over the playground
While they play on the swings

The lights from underneath the spaceship
Make the playground look green and purple
And the aliens forget
That they have an affect
On the planet's gravitational pull

So the swings go up
And the aliens fly out
Over the town

One lands in a pool
And so everyone who swims in it
From that point on
Will feel weightless

And so the father will quit his job
And the mother will leave the father
And the son will move out and to London
Where he will write science fiction books
And all of them will be happier

One alien will fall into the school
Where she will spend eternity
Studying
As a little girl named Carla
Who will never graduate
And who will go unnoticed
Until the spaceship turns around
Somewhere in the second infinity
And comes back to pick her up

For Carla, it feel as long
As a sneeze
And yet still, fairly unpleasant
Until she sees the green
And purple lights again

One alien will land on the wing of a plane
At the airport
And thoroughly scare
A very old gentleman
Who will decide
That flying
Is something
Reserved
For the young

One alien will land at the mall
And will try on all the expensive dresses
And suddenly they will fit everyone and anyone
Who tries them on

And one alien will hold fast to the swing he's on
And he will ride that swing
Back and forth, back and forth
Until he finds himself swinging back over Australia
And forward over Paris

Back over California
And forward over China

Back over mountains
And forward over ice caps

And he'll squeal with exuberance
Over the world he's taking in

And then, just when the spaceship
Is blinking its lights
One, two, three times

He'll jump

And nobody will be able to find him

Even on return trips
To collect the alien in the school
And the mall
And the koala bear exhibit at the zoo

The alien who jumped
Will not be found

He will be somewhere in the world
At a place in the world
Where he felt
He belonged

A place that made him feel safe enough
And bold enough
To jump
Right into

And the next day at school
When the children show up
And notice the swings moving back and forth
Back and forth, back and forth

They'll play
As they've always played
But part of them
Will toughen up
Will strengthen

They'll feel braver
And bolder
And a tiny bit older

Then they'll put their feet on the ground
And feel, for the first time in their lives
The contradiction
Of being pulled down
And pushed to fly
At the very same time