I wish I were an icicle
Dripping in your lap
I wish I were your bicycle
Not just your saddle bag

You ask me what it's like to be
A prodigy unknown
It's being an actor acting
For a camera with no film

And the camera pans the party
And nobody is here
Everyone is hiding
In the atmosphere
Surprise! they say
And happy birthday
Then they look away

Gatecrashing the walkabout
I point up to the stars
Visible in daytime
Like the lights of oncoming cars

Converging on the terminus
Swarming to the sea
People who know algebra
People who are theoretically free
They turn away the tennis star
They welcome the unkind
Their lives are all so harmless
You wish that you were blind

Shaking out the cornflakes
Into the Chinese bowl
While you read about the zero
Where everybody goes