Sunday, February 28, 2021

20210228.0430

Fate ever goes as it must
Though it may spare one who faces bravely
That which is laid out
But I have always been a coward
And I am yet to die more than a little
The yielding worth a purpled nail that
Ends three lives in one

Saturday, February 27, 2021

20210227.0430

What delight
To feel a cool breeze caress the skin
As sunlight nearing springtime kisses it
After cold winds have driven snow under cloud--
And all the more welcone when
The snow so seldom comes!

Friday, February 26, 2021

20210226.0430

The birds all chatter together
Quiscaline and passarine
High and nasal and piercing
While a wide-eyed owl
Squinting in the settling sunlight
Glances over at the flock
Alone

Thursday, February 25, 2021

20210225.0430

The old saying has it wrong
As happens more often than old sayers care to admit
Vinegar attracts more flies than honey
It's ants and bees that honey brings
And stinging yellow jackets
Leaving no sweetness to be found
Helps keep the bites and stings away
But the flies that come carry their own curses
And some of them still bite

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

20210224.0430

The muddy brown padding
Waiting for the many-colored carpet to be installed
Strangely welcome a sight after
The short-lived hardening white surface was stripped away
And the ceiling is a better color than gray, now, too

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

20210223.0430

It was a harsh lesson
The teacher chill of manner
But whether they will learn it well who need to
Is in doubt
They did not last time
And repeating the class does not always help

Monday, February 22, 2021

20210222.0430

Beautiful in shining white
That they stand frozen to behold who look
Not the usual dress, this
But only for a special occasion
Once in a lifetime for no few
The kind of thing of which grandfathers speak
Huddled over hot coffee
Shuddering

Sunday, February 21, 2021

20210221.0430

Dripping as she sheds
A delicate white layer
Promised coming life

Saturday, February 20, 2021

20210220.0430

Recently, we had the cold
Of which the old stories told--
Uphill walking done both ways,
As is said of bygone days--
And this we know is rare, indeed,
Though its lesson too few heed:
If colder weather came before,
It's warmer now, with more in store.

Friday, February 19, 2021

20210219.0430

Seven years ago today
She had gotten on her way
From where she could no longer stay
To this world where she does play
And I pause once again to say
To Ms. 8: Happy birthday!

Thursday, February 18, 2021

20210218.0430

Limbs already gnarled
Trunks bent and twisted
Bowing further under white beards
Growing longer as the tears fall

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

20210217.0430

Their eyes still cut in
Disbelieving that what they see
Can be trusted
Hurrying along to avoid the gaze
Flat in the return
Worrying about a sharpness that
Might be hiding

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

20210216.0430

The words fail
And other arts have never
Been ready to hand

Monday, February 15, 2021

20210215.0430

The lot is nearly empty
Pavement bared to the empty sky
With more teachers than students present
And I am neither, waiting

Sunday, February 14, 2021

20210214.0430

I know I am supposed to stop and say
I love you
Today
And that I was supposed to get
Flowers
Candy
A bottle of wine
For her
And for her
And I did make sure they got their gifts
But I still fail to see
How that is different than any other day

Saturday, February 13, 2021

20210213.0430

As ever, there is work to do
And, to do it, all too few,
But I will strive to carry through
All the work I have to do.
I pay now for my idle times,
Doing penance for such crimes
As my stainéd soul begrime--
Never clean in any time.
Yet all the work is to no end.
No wall or door do I defend
As I to labor but pretend,
My play-acting reaching no end.

Friday, February 12, 2021

20210212.0430

The ceiling has been painted anew
Helian hand brushing many colors atop
Pale blue primer
And I look forward to the matching carpet
Soon to spread across an uneven floor

Thursday, February 11, 2021

20210211.0430

She looked at me and said
Me and the dog and the cat are
The books and you
Are the bookcase
That's a good thing for reading
She said
And I am not wise enough to parse that wisdom

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

20210210.0430

None of us want to be here
Really
And I know it
And I know you are not the better paid
For harder work
But still
You are not paid to make it
Harder than it has to be

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

20210209.0430

Standing out where everyone can see
Uncovered
Evidently hoping for a crown
Or else to pass one on to
Someone whose head cannot bear it

Monday, February 8, 2021

20210208.0430

I watched the many trim the hedges
And saw others rush to spread fertilizer
That they might grow again
And choke put so much else that might
Grow yet more green

Sunday, February 7, 2021

20210207.0430

I felt it leave me
Slipping away into the waiting blue
Whence currents would sweep it to
Somewhere else
But when I looked
Again
I saw nothing save the blue
Undisturbed

Saturday, February 6, 2021

20210206.0430

I look forward to the delivery of another carpet
I've seen its like before
An annual arrival that stretches far
In memory and before the waking eye
Mimicking the sky above
As it shows at dawn and dusk
Over the limestone hills
And walls of oak and cedar and mesquite
The weave is different every time
The pattern never quite the same
Though the dyes always are
Showing brilliantly before they fade away
And the carpet tends towards its dirty brown
Again

Friday, February 5, 2021

20210205.0430

You say
That strange, amorphous you
That you might be so vain as to think you are
And vanity is really a cover for shame
We who follow ought to take to heart what you say
But that we are wrong when we do
Of course

Thursday, February 4, 2021

20210204.0430

That's the problem
You've got no common sense
You don't want to put in the time
Or pay your dues
You expect it to be handed to you
Get out there and work
And no
My parents never said such things to me
My grandparents never had such complaints
About me and mine
Why would they
We were perfect
I mean
Who complained about it
Until you started opening your mouth
Even though you don't know
The years of school we told you that you had to have
Are nothing against what I feel from years
And they've been good enough
Clearly
Just look at me

Wednesday, February 3, 2021

20210203.0430

I thought I had done well
Twenty years or more not showing so badly
As nineteen would have done with me
But all I did was make a toilet in an unaccustomed place
And twenty years should have taught me better
Or I ought to be a better student

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

20210202.0430

Eleos holds up the mirror
Polished to a brilliant sheen
And I gaze upon myself therein
Though I would not claim to preen

Monday, February 1, 2021

20210201.0430

Each day anymore
Helios lingers just a little longer here
Surveying lands wherein he will reside
His tenancy a test for those
Who receive a rent in gold from him
In plenty