It was then that the relatively indistinct motions,
of children moving through canals were detected,
by my equipment that awoke of its own accord.
Some were realised to be orbiting around lesser
binary companions, their achilles vulnerability.
Still, others were the topic for fanciful conjecture.
Despite my sophisticated studies
on how they moved and shifted,
my weekly entries into the files,
they were merely faint objects.
The were pulsating quasars beyond our orbits.
They carried placards and aerosol,
the bright and beautiful images,
of families from films and posters,
that gave a misleading impression.
The worlds they inhabit are barely detectable,
beneath the low burnt glow of the slum sky.
Only loving glances, even if half imagined,
reveal them at all clearly,
where they scurry like rats into drainpipes.
To think that companionship is now only a theory.
