1

Give me time.
Give me time, is all I said.
Give me time, I asked you—"Just give me time"—and you told me not to worry—
        “No worries!”—and in return I said nothing.


2
Tell me where the geese go to sleep; where they feed and make love;
Tell me where they go when they fly over the treetops during the evening;
Tell me how to differentiate between the geese and the ganders; between ducks
        and geese; between grass and marsh, cloud and current; pond and lake and
        river; between birds of the air and birds of the water;
Tell me how the rumour began, of the boy who rode a swan; how a boy could
        ride a swan, and if the swan liked it; how a swan could live amongst geese
        and ducks;
Tell me how it stood, and bore the weight; how it could stand its life, and living,
        current against current, one woefully drunk Chinese sociopath on its back;
Tell me where the geese go to sleep; where the geese go to hide.


3
Show me how you got from x to y: how you got from one point to the other: how
         mathematics is the study of distance:
Show me how mathematicians gauge it above the page: how they plot it over the
         treetops, where the geese go sleeping:
Show me where the ganders go hiding:
Show me x—"See ya! x"—
Show me y, and how you figured it out:
Show me how far I have travelled: how far I have come, and felt (for how far is
         the equator? and how far the sea, how long its roads?):
Show me how I got from there to here: how, before, I got from here to there: how
         I got anywhere, really: how I goddamn flew, and hid:
Show me migration, show me flight: how they found, and how they fought: geese
         over gander, air over water.


4
—"Hey."—"Hey."
—"Nice shoes."—"Thank you."
                        ("Just give me time.")


5
Call it off! Cut it out! Give it to me!
(Shake it off, and dance it out! Give it to me afterwards!)
Say it to me, then say it back to yourself. Show it all to me, the axes and
        trajectories, all the coordinates, I want to know:
(Tell me where you found them!)
Let it go, and ride it down the lake, woefully drunk, you goddamn Chinese
        sociopath, just
Let it all go, why don't you.


6
WHERE ARE THE GANDERS? WHERE HAVE THEY GONE?
WHERE HAVE THEY CHOSEN TO FLY? TO SLEEP? TO FLY AGAIN?

WHERE IS THE AIR! WHERE IS THE WATER!
WHERE IS THE EQUATOR! THE SEA, AND ITS ROADS! BOY ON THE BACK, CURRENT AGAINST
      CURRENT!
(WHERE IS THE LINE, FROM WHENCE I CAME? THE CURVE OVER THE TREETOPS? THE
      COORDINATES I TOLD YOU TO TELL? THE TIME I ASKED YOU TO GIVE?)

WHERE ARE THE GANDERS!
WHERE ARE ALL THE GODDAMN GANDERS!