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Under a heading about adoption on the knee, the speaker says he knew a man was lying but found death sweet.

The speaker gives no account of the lie or the death. The brief statement keeps both knowledge and attraction to death in view without resolving their connection.

Under the title 'Adoption on the / Knee', the speaker writes 'I knew he / was lying, / but death / sure was / sweet'.

The title suggests a child taken onto an adult's knee, while the body sets knowledge of a man's lie against the sweetness of death. The five short lines leave the connection unstated, which makes the admission abrupt and unsettling.