The First Book
by Rita Dove
Open it.
Go ahead, it won't bite.
Well. . . maybe a little.
More a nip, like.
A tingle.
It's pleasurable, really.
You see, it keeps on opening.
You may fall in.
Sure, it's hard to getstarted;
remember leaning to use
knife and fork? Dig in:
you'll never reach
bottom.
It's not like it's the end
of the world --
just the world as you
think
you know it.
