Of these intense and voyeuristic
Thoughts, feelings
Both startling and perversely pleasant
Satisfying glances
Into you

Into me

This vicarious thrill
Urging my own needs
Wants
Desires
Unfulfilled longings
Unexamined resentments
Some vengeance
That lies un-manicured

(I witness and own my ulterior motives
though I swear by my good intentions)

The hedge is thick
And would be trimmed with hateful design

But those moments
Glances
Are unimportant now
And should lie dormant
Until that dwelling within me
Is vacated

I sweep my own porch
As thoughts of your thoughts
Nag
My empath touched
My own soul dusty and reminded

I push my broom harder
(Sigh and huff)

Outside my porch
As I perch on wooden steps
Built of hard work and waiting

My own garden looks so ....
So....

Without touch

Yours?
No
Your words
And their touch
Have lent to rich soil

I worry I have gathered myself the wrong
Seeds to sow
in this sunlight

after this harsh Winter

But I do see
rich soil

so thank you

And to my own promise
see in this reflection
A virtuosic blooming of self awareness
And proper amends

And then I arrive at the here and now of things
finally
and...
I feel surprisingly comfy in this space

apologies for my tardiness

But oh, the distractions
They do take me
And my willingness

It aches

He tromped steadily with vainglorious posture
Into dark and barbaric wood
The snap of root beneath him vibrated a high hat syncopation
Tisk tisk counterpoint to the thunderous
Boom and boom of violent step
  
He was a fortress of ability
Cloaked in musky matted brown and carcass of meal
The scent of which filled his moist ****** and intake of frosted forrest air
Filling giant lungs with monstrous roar
And raised his swinging head to shout a warning  
Unstopable emphasis shown  
By extension of bulk  
And arms squeezing menace between massive paws
  
This alarm echoed through shadowy expanses of Aspen and the Evergreen
Releasing a riot of wings  
And emptying the rookery
The Forrest felt the tick tock tick  
Of a grandfather clock's hollow chest and emptiness  
Desolation's silence became deafening
  
All activities of the normal lives of communal creatures were ordered:
Cease and desist  
And they burrowed and denned
They hid in shelters built for temporary oasis
And their hearts beat with mad desire for what lay outside of these spaces
  
They preoccupied themselves through the chaotic approach
Gathered well and nurtured their offspring with nut and berries
And well spent breath to calm claustrophobic urge
  
It would end
They knew that it would
But each time it felt as if the first time
When trouble encroached and compromised solidarities unit
singular minds often dream alike
Even the smallest of these  
Felt enormous in it's own existence  
  
The bear
And his sweltering cause  
Had brought new reminder to his domain
His bravado and grand display
breeding virtue and patience in spite of himself