Mimic

The tiny girl
of two years
told her father
hide
then jerkily ran to the kitchen
eyes squeezed
one-two-free-fowa-five

under dining chairs
in cupboards
behind curtains
peering
not in there
not in there
not in the hallway
not on the bookshelf
not under the throw-rug
gleefully skirting
the sofa where she'd
left her father
until the appointed time
there he is!

And so we model
our pretenses
and will

and our children quickly learn
the way they should go
the way from which
they are unlikely to depart:

to dart around the edges of the real
to avert their eyes
to craft emotion for unleashing
at the appointed time

we teach
blindness
so they

will not ask
the questions our
grandparents' grandparents' grandparents
dared not ask
and that we

prefer to pretend
have been answered