late at night
until well into morning
a boy lay
starring up at the sky
with beer and cigarettes
and a pellet gun for a toy
to see how long
he can look at the stars
while thinking of a girl he cannot have
testing to see
how long it may take
before their beauty loses all meaning
how long he can think about their grandeur
before one star
becomes just as uninteresting as the rest.
Hoping it will somehow help him
in understanding those other matters.
