Nine day-care children are out for a walk
on a winter morning, under a gray sky,
led by a girl in her teens walking sideways
so she can encourage them, boys and girls
strung all along a length of clothesline
held in their mittened hands, the rope
strung all along a length of clothesline
held in their mittened hands, the rope
here slack, there tight, tight going slack,
all the children in puffy down jackets
with loosely pursed hoods through which
all the children in puffy down jackets
with loosely pursed hoods through which
