Tag: Muscovy ducks

Lovely Loyalty

Lovely Loyalty, I'm glad you still laugh;
I'm glad you still hang out with Steve and Wish.
I saw you the other day on the half
Of the pond where laundry's done, and in bliss
Knelt down to give oats and take your picture.
It was here where you and your brothers hatched.
While some have moved on, you've been a fixture;
Today I find you with young Wish attached.
Then other times you're with your brother Norm,
Who seems to have moved next door as it were,
Where the rains cause a small pond to form
Behind that lot. Last time he didn't stir 
From his nap, though I did see him out there.
If there weren't cameras I'd stop and stare.

Steve! (and George!)

I didn't realize my initial luck
When I returned to the pond to receive
Your greeting, thinking you another duck;
But it was you I dreamed of meeting: Steve!
I didn't see you on my last visit,
And the time before you seemed out of sorts:
You didn't eat; so it is exquisite
Having you run to me with laughs and snorts.
And you too darling George! Having you back,
Creation's refrain shall ever resound
In euphony like the ducklings who track
Mama, squeaking and frolicking around!
Steve and George, thank you for being friendly
And treating the tiny ducklings gently.

Song for George



My friend, it's cliché
 but you know what I'll say,
I hope to see you again.

In time, you'll return
 on a day you discern;
I hope it's me that you find.

My dear, I'll hold fast
 to a love which outlasts
Eternity and a year.

When you fly away
 doesn't mean you won't stay,
It's only a day's goodbye.

The spread of your wings
 is the nature of things,
A growth by adventure fed.

Be safe and live free;
 I'll continue to be
Your friend, though your absence chafes.

Go roam where you will
 and I'll visit until
Love reunites us at home.

My sheer house

My sheer house is miniscule,
But here and now a lyric
Could take sublime molecules,
Make time's victory pyrrhic.

I give you this offering:
How I lived, a wish afloat
On songs of hope, softening
The wrongs which our scopes promote.

My dream to be feminine,
To see myself seem pretty,
A princess with eminence;
Pinced instead: what a pity.

I grew into depression,
My true self refused, repressed.
Desire became obsession;
To my shame I was possessed.

My own eating disorder
Bound up a need for starving,
Alcohol, and discordant,
Maladaptive wrist carving.

Death was posing constantly,
Its threshold closing around
Each moment of wantingly
Reaching, alone and unfound.

But I'm alive, shockingly,
I survived at rock bottom.
He found me worth pocketing,
Crowned my cursed head with autumn.

Before I was untethered,
Poured my puzzled blood weeping;
When he brought us together,
He bent thoughts that lie creeping.

A half-dozen medicines,
A path that wasn't direct
At last mounted reticence,
Perhaps found something correct.

We shacked up through manifold
Setbacks, yet we grew happy
Trusting plucky animals,
Our muscovy ducks' flapping.

There's still the same confusion.
Will you blame that I re-slept
My years' yearning delusion?
I've merely learned to accept.

I've lost and gained employment,
I've tossed the rains from islands 
To focus love's enjoyment;
A voice spoke above violence.

I'll never be omniscient;
So I must weather demons,
Though I fear I'm deficient.
I know my sincere reasons.

I'm not very capable
But caught a merry lifeline.
If even I'm shapeable,
Could seasons prime our lifetimes?

To mention that important
Question: what matters really?
Is self-knowledge supporting
My shelf of solid feeling?

Am I truly self-aware,
Can I duly note defects
In myself that interfere
With my health's tender reflex?

Have I built my quality
Which sadness wilted above;
Deeply lies my policy:
To keep those I call beloved.

Our Best Friends

Percy and Franklin,
I still think about you two.
May we meet again.
Talk to me Norman.
Any whisper you breathe
Makes my soul lighter.

Oh my darling George,
I'll never forget seeing
You in the preserve
Next door, (far from home to me.)
You came back with love's ascent.
Steve, what a blessing
To see you running to me
With warmest welcome.
Little striped ducky,
What is your name I wonder,
Our friend Zebra's child.
Zebra moved along
With a few of her ducklings;
We'll always love her.
Wonderful Helmet,
You most amazing mother,
Your little white head 
Reminds me of the Mama's 
Before who mothered our friends.
Edgar's soft whirring,
A duckling nipping the air:
Little things they do
That remind me of Granite.
How he loved his blueberries.

One of Many Things

I think what I adore about you most
is your compassion for creatures in need:
the softshell turtle caught in dirt you freed;
protecting the mother hens on the coast
of the pond from a rowdy drake engrossed
in his hormones; and when you took the lead
trapping and releasing to his green weeds
the little lizard found on our bedpost.

Spiders, moths, and even juvenile wasps,
you do what you can to bring them from harm.
Even when exhausted you don't exhaust
your kindness for helpless things. That's the charm
which draws us to your arms, especially
the one who needs you more than any: me.