roller skate in the rain

by wiggy jones, "the little hippie boy"

i wish i was an arab tribesman or a bedouin at least or a cossack crossing the desert on a magnificent beast i wish i was a dervish whirling in the air i wish i was an elephant at the county fair i wish i was a fireman carrying a kitten down a ladder or a sad gorilla because nothing really madders or a happy horticulturist growing pretty flowers or an inspector general getting paid by the hour i wish i was a janissary with a flashing sword or a king with a million kingdoms so i would never be bored i wish i was a lion lazing in the son or the man of the hour friends with everyone i wish i was a nanny on my monthly day off or an obstreperous orangutan afraid of getting soft I wish I was a peanut growing on a vine or a grain of quicksand asking will you be mine? i wish i was a roller skate lost in the rain or a silly willy trying to explain i wish i was a top hat on a diplomat’s head i wish i understood one thing before i am dead i wish i was a vitamin on a bathroom shelf i wish i was a wombat and was true to myself i wish i could explain why i am not a hero and when the universe was young it did not add ip to zero i wish that i was all these things from sea to shining sea but when the clouds have rolled away i am only me