Change of Pace

A boy found some coins in Tibet

And swallowed them down on a bet

Mom, who was brewin’

Screamed, “How’s he doin’?”

The Doc said, “Sorry no change yet!”

Autumn Reverie

An ample log burns softly on the fire

Where I’ve curled up to read a favorite book.

Hot cocoa in a steaming mug helps me retire

To the fantasy of painted woods and brook.

The road to now is one I’m glad I took!

The Quiver

An arrow is loosed, a young doe is hit

With a quiver, she’s free of pain.

An arrow retrieved, returned to its place

Is his quiver truly full again?

Lust

lust burns hot and bright 
like powder in a flash pan 
true love a red coal

How black the seas in a pounding storm!

The lanterns were all blown out.

Only the lights within still burned

For crewmen strong and stout.   

The flash from the clouds would scarce reveal

The main and the mizzen bare.

Only a jib on the foremast flew

To point her homeward fair.

The captain on the helm withstood

The gale and pelting spray.

“Only an act of God”, he thought

“Could spare us all today!”

His ship was a fine one, swift and sound,

But was failing against the waves.

Only the quarter of a harbor near

Would save this crew so brave.

The squall raised up a fearsome wave

To send them down to hell.

Only to give the captain view

Of a lighthouse o’er the rail

That pulsing sentinel guided him

Through rocks and shallow shoal.

Only to bring them safely home,

A haggard twenty souls.

Getting Ahead

Two hats at a real posh spread

Owned by a baker of bread

One said to the other

“I’ll tell you what brother,

Wait here, I’ll go on a head!”

Desert Survival

A whiptail lizard

Hangs limp in roadrunner’s beak,

Speed is essential

Fast and wary, the whiptail

Just cannot compete with wings

Sloth of the desert

The horny toad is not fast,

Choosing to blend in

Thorny Camouflage protects

For speed is not an option

The black Chuckwalla

Puffs itself in rocky cracks,

Wedged in a safe place

Without speed, thorns or camo

This iguana adapted

Baseball Anyone?

I wondered why the balls I see

While standing up to bat with glee

Just keep getting bigger

When pitch pulls the trigger,

Then finally it hits me!

The Envelope

Some things in life are immovable

So tenacious and reactionary. 

No matter how hard you push the envelope

It’ll still remain stationary.

Dangerous Times

Fledgling birds cry out

From their refuge on the ground

Feline hunter stalks