You aren’t scared of zombies
or witches
or trolls
so we didn’t worry
about letting you watch E.T.
but it’s this beige and wrinkled alien
who haunts you
so now you tuck your feet under my legs
before you go to sleep
because you think E.T.
will grab at them
and yet when I finally asked you
why you cried so hard in the movie
when you thought he had died
you looked at me with exasperation
and reminded me that the character
in the movie was just a robot puppet
but that what scares you
is obviously real aliens
who might right now
be lost and groping about
at the bottom of your bed
for a friend.