Tag Archives: Love

Andean Rock

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The pretty engineer took his arm
    at the tunnel entrance;
They walked a mile
    into the middle of the Andes,
    into a frigid inferno.

"We've passed the border", she said,
    facing the whine and grind
Of a giant rolling worm,
    flashing sparks and lightening,
    as it pushed into Argentina.

They returned to sunlight and ice,
    and she handed him a stone,
An unsuccessful flirtation
    as he released her hand,
    but kept the rock.

She stammered about sensitivity
    to air, humidity, temperature,
"In a hundred years it will be gone,
    unlike love...".
    He shrugged and left.

The stone, grey and white,
    sat for months on a shelf,
Unchanging, leaving only dusty fingertips.
    He was relieved when it was lost --
    A century was too long to wait.


            The feldspar image is copied from 
             the Minerals Database of the 
            "Minerals Education Coalition"

First Flight

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His first bold flight, a flash of blue, 
      he glided down a gentle arc
      onto a sunlit lawn below, 

And sensed the sudden shadow's cold
      as feathers red above him broke 
      a hundred mile an hour stoop.

He felt sharp talons grip his chest,
      and loosed his piercing wail for help
      as chaos crashed about his world

When mother dove at raptor's head,
      and father cursed obscenities 
      which even dogs could understand

They struck the head with clawing feet,
      and screeching, pecking, flapped their wings
      before the gaping hunter's beak,

Who, not so hungry anymore,
      and careful of his precious eyes,
      in all the grand confusion thought

It best to drop his tasty lunch
      and lumber off, a wiser hawk,
      and seek a less encumbered hunt.

The jays, still cursing everything,
      although with somewhat softened voice, 
      convened a family meet above,

Where heartbeats slowed and breaths relaxed,
      in tones now low and comforting, 
      the parents gave their stern advice,

"Don't ever hesitate, dear child --
      just scream like banshee, claw at eyes,
      the secret to a longer life!"


            The image is a modification of 
            Bill Shissler's photograph 
            "Get Away Kid, You Bother Me"
            © BillShiss Photography).

Reek of Love

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He wore the shirt she met him in
      for many days, a week he thought,

Then finally she dared to speak,
      "Your shirt, it reeks, please wash it soon!"

She might as well have slapped his face,
      and yet they still fell fast in love,

But after this, his shirts were clean,
      were always different every day,

Since at the laundromat he found
      a plastic bottle green in hue

Containing simple laundry soap,
      the secret elixir of love.

Receipt from Half Moon Bay Inn

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Rummaging for a pencil
   in the glove compartment
 
He came upon a receipt
   for two nights at
 
Half Moon Bay Inn
   and he paused,
 
So still as though
   catatonic,
 
Finding himself
   once again
 
Eating, making love, smiling
   with her
 
That colder-than-expected
   June weekend,
 
When he bought a sweater
   because he’d known
 
He wouldn’t need a coat
   at The Coast
 
(after all,
   it was nearly summer!).
 
She laughed and loved him
   for his certainties,
 
And he replied in kind at being
   always young with her,
 
So near the bull’s-eye
   of his complicated
 
Requirements of love
   by which one moves
 
Along an arc
   of ageless youth
 
To a predictable end
   fearlessly,
 
As long as they
   were together —
 
He started, startled by
   a squirrel on the hood,
 
Peering through the windshield,
   chittering “Are you OK?”,
 
And discovered
   a pencil in his hand.
 
He grinned,
   and tossed it back,
 
No longer needed,
   as she rapped on the window,
 
Bringing him herself
   and a girl’s sweet smile.
 

Lunar Eclipse

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"I'm sorry about the Moon...", he said.
"Oh! What an interesting sentence!",
        she replied,
smiling with unexpected delight.
Love illuminated them
in the recovered lunar glow.