Do We Dare to Sleep Out in the Air?

Do we dare,
in spite of the danger of radioactive space dust,
sleep out in the air?

Do we care
that we’ve lost all trust
in a benevolent Providence and don’t dare

lay our innocent heads down where
a kind of radioactive yeast
from outer space might be poisoning the air?

But what really makes our hair
stand up are the insects—
radioactive ticks that inhabit the air,

making us quiver in rank terror,
and causing no end of other fuss,
because we’re so sure that none of us would dare

meet one in a narrow corner, even though they’re

silent as a bust
of Pallas. Do we dare
to sleep out in the air?