A little lady cardinal
One morning perched upon my deck,
Spying the seeds I had placed there,
Hungrily, she began to peck

Soon she was joined by her lover,
With his "tweetheart" he came to dine;
What a lovely couple they made,
Standing there underneath the pine

I stood in awe of their courtship,
Then came a moment of mystique --
Lovingly, he took a peanut
And gently placed it in her beak

His wing lifted to caress her,
So much in love they seemed to be;
Tears started to well in my eyes,
Seeing love's pure simplicity

Suddenly, there appeared a hawk,
A dark shadow touring the sky,
All chirping hushed, fear filled the air,
And then sounded the warning cry

All the birds in the area
Sought trees, left and right they did veer,
But little lady cardinal
Just sat there, paralyzed with fear

Death was gliding on wings outspread,
Lady cardinal in his sight;
Then down he swooped to claim his prize,
Suddenly her lover took flight

Up he flew into death's cold grasp,
Downward fluttered a tattered wing;
Satisfied with his handsome catch,
The hawk soared away, revelling

The red bird gave his life for love,
But his bravery was not in vain,
Each dawn finds his lady grieving,
Singing for him her sad refrain

Used to be
you and me
against this sick
degrading
society,

but you up
and left.

So, while
you were away
the world went strange,
people got crueler,
shoulders got colder.

We all found out
what politics
and the medical
profession
is really about.

The corrupt got dumber
than a redneck plumber,
but due to their massive egos
they still put on a good show
to show how stupid they are.

Technology,
created
more transparency,
so their stupidity
became clearer to see;

Even, by a man
as foolish as me.

That’s what happened
when you decided to
up and leave.

My sleep abandoned me
when being Awake greeted me tightly
into the needs of my babies

Now my sleep wanders alone
like a hungry dog searching for food

So at nights I chase my sleep
with whatever I can find in the fridge
but my sleep runs away
as soon as my babies awake

The universe is pulsing,
beating and growing,
a heartbeat quickening
to vast to be understood
but still sickly constricting
as if time and space is convicting
me of crimes I have yet to commit
and some sins man has not yet
gotten around to inventing.

So, I am venting pulsars of pain
that rotate out and around then
back in again.
My black hole dilations
greedily absorb all of the light,
and space flotsam,
never returning anything.

Unending, beyond comprehending,
still I keep bending my mind
in strange contortions
to understand humanity’s
and spacetime’s weird distortions.

the crowd is relentless,
they blame her for their suffering,
yet you know better,
you know she is merely a child at heart
with the weight of a whole kingdom on her shoulders,
her 'council' are to blame.

their greed almost doomed the kingdom she rules over,
"she does not deserve this" you utter,
you almost don't feel yourself doing it,
running at her,
               raising your shield against the rotten vegetables and stones,

like it was dictated by the gods that you were to be her shield,
her bastion of hope,
she looks up at you
her eyes watered from the shame she endures

yet she manages to force a smile,
a smile of gratitude,
    as if she was begging for someone to save her
and it appears,

              she saw your smile through your visor,
making her even less distraught

to me,
you are
an art

                              to you,
                              I was
                              a tragedy

it was quiet here yesterday
the rain came and dripped
with noises outside the back
i looked out to see the gutter
slipped and listened to the
sounds

looked at the wet glistening
on the ivy

wedged the cloth to soak
the water up then lit the fire

done some drawings
&
cookings. a pleasant
day for me

comparing large dresses

hoping that all will be
well

with morse

Today is death.
I was promise it would only be
minor increments of damage killing me.
Disintegration in degrees,
a slow erosion of my identity.

Whilst flakes of skin
break from my thin
frame and fly away.
My mind does the same,
but unlike my flesh
does not regenerate.

Thoughts once clear
get foggy then farther away.
Till there is only an inkling
of the shrinking remembrance.
Then it finally blinks out
before I realize that
it was leaving for good.

The person I was
becomes confused
with the man I was
in my youth,
two beings merging
and separating
as important aspects
begin evaporating.

Memories become harder
to retain,
and impossible to regain.
So, I lose my name
on the very same
day I lose the faces
of those I’ve loved.

My mobility goes from limited
to non-existent.
All functions autonomic
loose cohesion
and I go from resting
to wheezing
trying to capture
a breath that doesn’t
want me.

Mind gone,
body follows
making my cold form hollow.

Then the memory of me,
becomes distorted.
My family and friends
lose tiny bits,
and bigger parts
of our shared past.

Till, all who knew me pass.
Then at last
the words I left
are swallowed up
in cosmic chaos,
lost with all that human
flotsam.

your curious gaze,
teasing smile, laughter. languid
like straight tequila.

ever flowing and
missing the rim of my cup
an intentful flow.

alikened to shame and
reddened on my dark cheeks like
ripened tomatoes.

you are a pleasant
sharp tasting fruit. bitter yet
ready to be plucked.

vineless. ever free.
forbidden. incandescent
and reflective shine.