Let silence be your teacher
your friend and healer

"The elephant seal is an unsightly creature.
I heard it today on TV
Then a special on smart and wonderful dolphins
Who never would wish to be me"

"All this rubbery ******* I use for a face
That my mother just says she adores
Is a hideous masking of elephantine proportions
That nobody else could afford"


You're not ugly, oh dear elephant seal!
You are mountains more graceful than that
Don't ever wish you were a rabbit
A turtle, a dog, or a curious cat

So a parrot can talk,
But it gets him in trouble
And a hamster is cuddly
But untidy--makes his home in the rubble

Sure, you haven't got fur
but you haven't got mange!
You're *****-and-span as your ocean
Your sea home-on-the-range

And your nose is real big
But you've never been nosey
You are much too polite
To make others un-cozy

I have watched you go swimming
You're majestic as waves
And you love to explore
All the watery caves

You have beautiful eyes
And I think you're just swell
Look, someday, you'll be happy
You'll be so proud as well

"Well I guess I am funny
I like to make friends
I've gotten good at catching squids
And other popular trends"

See--that's just the spirit!
You're as magnificent as any
But what makes you so great?
You're more humble than many

You be my poet,
And I your poem.
Let the lyrics of our love swim
in your head,
Drift them to the sea of your soul,
And then,pen your feelings for me,
On a perfumed  page.
Script each stanza in melodic verses,
Metaphor me,
Personify me,
Alliterate me,
Till I am submerged in your thoughts and emotions,
Only I,
I your true love.

His head kept bumping on my shoulder
and he was not my father
or anyone I knew

he smelled as if a bath was overdue
and slept like wasn't a place better
than the ***** briefness of my shoulder.

Breaking down was my brittle patience
needled by his bristled cheek
brushed by his shabby dress,

was for rest the man hard pressed?

Wouldn't I have been nudged by pride
if the head on my shoulder was my father
happy to have him by my side?

as he gets older
does his blurry mind miss
a place where he is not alone

one or any shoulder
for an untimely nap in peace
a quiet stranger to rest upon?

And perhaps only childhood
Nailed me to the cross
Standing in the brilliance
Believing what was good.

Now thoughts just embers
Ashes fallen flames
And bend to sweep the dust
Of those promises broken again.

Love Mary x