Nature's Bait

 The hawk was there

On the fence

Watching

Waiting

Patient

 

There were no birds among the branches in the dogwood

No birds flitting among the branches of the dogwood

Feasting on the fall berries

The bright red berries dusted with the first snow

The hawk was there

On the fence

Watching

Waiting

Patient

The bright red berries

Nature’s bait

 

Full Moon

 

Full Moon

Isolate and full, the moon floats over the house by the river
Into the night the cold water rushes away below the gate
The bright gold spilled on the river is never still
The brilliance of my quilt is greater than precious silk
The circle without blemish
The empty mountains without sound
The moon hangs in the vacant, wide constellations
Pine cones drop in the old garden
The senna trees bloom
The same clear glory extends for ten thousand miles

Tu Fu, One Hundred Poems from the Chinese.

The Invisible Man

He found in himself
    a vast
    untapped source of
Altruism
    an immense capacity for
Understanding
    and a vacuum of
Volition

Locked
    deep in thought
Crushed
    by the weight of burdens
    he had never assumed
    he
Died

    His flesh
Withered
    and stretched taught
    across his
Bones
    A smile formed upon his face
    and turned into a
Leer

    And
Year
    by
Year
    by
Year
     he turned to
Dust
    until he
Disappeared

    the
Invisible
    man