A Gong

They do not smack you to make you cry at birth, as they actually
Bang a gong next to your new
And tiny body to get you going, which means
The gong reverberates throughout your being
Always, giving you your loves and
Theories and calendars if it actually
Gets hit early, that is, as it may even

Be whacked next to you at night
Later on in your childhood; or you could get it—or finally
Get it on top of a mountain in your
Twenties thirties forties just

Before you start to climb down as the
Mountain from the gong starts shaking.
And everyone’s

Gong is different and it plays

Always in their lives with its echoes and patterns in different
Ways so you just need
To find your gong or hear

It or feel it to work out its rhythms, which of course
You don’t need to do, because then
You’ll know it was only a gong.