As Far As They Go

Their opinions spoken

by their eyes sometimes

and by their lips all the time

are as loud 

as they’re misleading.

They know why my fence

remains untrimmed

three at last count

and why my Dalmatians refuse

to bark at cars.

Worry ceaselessly about my health

waning with each day’s passing

this cough dry

that rings hollow, loud

across the entire court.

They’re acutely aware of my inability

gross and utterly-disconcerting

to keep my sexagenarian husband sated

my bloody dogs warm

my bony, veiny self-fed.

They pray daily for my recovery

as they wine and dine

wish me well in their dreams 

and debate my prognosis

from a safe, far-off distance.

But that I’m afraid

is as far as they go: 

Willing not daring

Talking not doing

hoping not help.

Man In My Shed

There sits a man in our shed

His grey hair uncombed

His baggy clothes rugged

His knuckles bloodied.

 

They claim he is mad

Has been since he was a lad

Who watched his father hanged

And his dear mother maimed.

By a pale-skinned intruder confounded

Irked, amazed, and oh-so-perplexed

By a group crafty, dreadlocked

That had his new Chief slaughtered.

 

But the man I’ve watched

On rainy nights fed

Though weird and reserved

Is not at all bad, or mad.

He’s a good man haunted

A darkened mind now besotted

A kind soul somewhat trapped

Forcibly yoked in a yesterday marred.

A kind heart oaked in a past poisoned

By memories sorrowful and sad

That keep his vision forever blurred

And make him forever mad. 

Forever Lost

In this Universe rotten and cold

gifts precious and rare

fall by the wayside

kind souls dispatched 

in some haste — 

to aid

to save

pass by unseen

unnoticed, unappreciated.

Fearful of misconception

hindered by our solitude

our hearts dark

they wobble away

one at a time

glide off like clouds heavy

with the promise of rain.

 

To be a blessing to others

beings in a different realm

ready to learn, to gain

persons progressive

and open-minded

who are not as mean— 

not as vain

not as avaricious

not as ungracious

as us.