// “Things” by Fleur Adcock//

There are worse things than having behaved foolishly in public.

There are worse things than these miniature betrayals,

committed or endured or suspected; there are worse things

than not being able to sleep for thinking about them.

It is 5 a.m. All the worse things come stalking in and stand icily about the bed looking worse and worse

and worse.

as heard on “The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor”