About Clouds

Yesterday the Sixth Wilbury posted a quote from the greatest book ever written, The House on Mango Street. She pulled out the part about Darius and his clouds, which made me remember that I had written this little poem about that same kid, Darius and his clouds, about 2 years ago when I read that book. Here goes

Darius

A boy was named
Darius
because his mother
liked the sound.
We learned on the playground
that he knew God.

Darius was the boy
who chased us
outside of school,
who pulled our hair,
but ducked away
before we reached
for him. Darius.

On Friday, he stood
on the blacktop, easy
with his hands hiding
in his pockets.
He looked away from us
and we felt our breath
slip into ourselves,
just before he pointed up
to a single cloud.

He’d pulled
a single cloud
from that piled air
and called it God. We looked at Darius,
noticed his eyes
for a first time,
heard the deepness
in his voice,
and believed him.