One night I dreamed I was locked in my Father's watch With Ptolemy and twenty-one ruby stars Mounted on spheres and the Primum Mobile Coiled and gleaming to the end of space And the notched spheres eating each other's rinds To the last tooth of time, and the case closed.

Cifelli. Children's poems. ") He was popular enough and interesting enough to warrant a pair of appearances in the early 1960s on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

John Anthony Ciardi (pronounced /ˈtʃɑrdiː/ CHAR-dee; Italian: [ˈtʃardi]) (June 24 1916 – March 30 1986) was an American poet translator and etymologist. While primarily known as a poet he also translated Dante's Divine Comedy wrote several volumes of children's poetry pursued etymology contributed to the Saturday Review as a columnist and long-time poetry editor and directed the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Vermont.