| The teacher asks a question. | |
| You know the answer, you suspect | |
| you are the only one in the classroom | |
| who knows the answer, because the person | |
| in question is yourself, and on that | |
| you are the greatest living authority, | |
| but you don’t raise your hand. | |
| You raise the top of your desk | 5 |
| and take out an apple. | |
| You look out the window. | |
| You don’t raise your hand and there is | |
| some essential beauty in your fingers, | |
| which aren’t even drumming, but lie | 10 |
| flat and peaceful. | |
| The teacher repeats the question. | |
| Outside the window, on an overhanging branch, | |
| a robin is ruffling its feathers | |
| and spring is in the air. | 15 |
