My polite smile is a candle

it burns

occasionally flickering

throwing shadows

eating itself

losing form

softening

when the lights go out

there is nothing there!

The moon
a silver sixpence
loose in the pocket
of the universe

Frosty winter pond
Water glass obscured by snow
Fish dance in private

Sing like a bird in a tree
Without the rage
Of a bird in a cage

If your vocabulary is small
you can grow it like a plant in a ***
day by day water it with words
one at a time until it blooms
into dictionary flowers

We all need beauty in our lives
words or music or mountains and trees
not like a fish, they need the water to breathe
like a bird needs the air
they can live in a cage
the bars will not suffocate their lungs
only their tiny souls
they are miserable if they cannot fly
always longing for the sky they can see from a window

To live life vicariously
is to be a shadow
riding pillion
on someone else's bike