Simon Says

We're playing Simon Says.  Remember how?

(Simon says remember how, so it's okay.)

It's not enough to do what Simon says,

It's what he says he says that you obey.

The rules are Simon's.  All right, let's begin.

Simon says, Don't read this sentence or you're out.

You did?  That's it, game's over, Simon wins,

However much you plead, protest, or pout.

Bound by the iron chain of such curved sense,

Simon himself must discontinue play.

There's no appeal to gray omnipotence.

What Simon says he says he can't unsay.

Paul Lake

From Walking Backward, Story Line Press, © 1999.

Reprinted b y permission of the author and
Story Line Press, Ashland, Oregon.