Lerner page 2
This isn't technically a mother goose nursery rhyme, but a superstition that dates back to
about 1905. Many variations, like the following, have been written along this line:
Step on a line, break your mother's spine
Step on a hole, break your mother's sugar bowl
Step on a nail, you'll put your dad in jail
"step on a crack, you'll break your mother's back"
nothing about stepping over it, landing on the other side
stooped over in pain, the weight of seven decades presses down on you;
"step on a line, you'll break your mother's spine"
she's long dead it's your spine, came down
a curved genetic road to find you
after your father left, the man of the house;
cracks formed, the fine line between decisions
stepped over without consequences widened as
you walked the same pedestrian route habit mapped:
easiest distance between years: from home to work to the
same restaurant you and your mother once frequented
a struggle now to stand upright, you fight against
the downward gravitational pull of seventy years;
I do what I can, errands, simple tasks; not enough
the doctor gives you shots; it take away the pain
you go back to who you were
and can never be again
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Linda Lerner