The Sightless House Wren: a poem

 

The Sightless House Wren

 

My friend (with a few benefits)
has informed me he cannot see me
anymore, he has found a committed
exclusive partner, so this weekend
I shall remain as untouched
as the newly fallen snow,
only it is now mid-May,
and I remain without a caress.
On my daily walk, I pass a tiny brown
long-beaked bird, lying sideways
and still on the pavement,
killed no doubt by a passing car.
Her last touch was a jarring
blast, not a gentle wisp like today’s breeze.
I realize that the car has
not only ended this one life,
but the babies waiting
back in the nest as well,
now hungry and crying.
I say a quick prayer to Mother Nature,
remind her some of us humans
are working to spread the message
that we must save her, must
rewind the damage we have wrought,
as much as possible, and I hear her reply,
“To whom have you told?
We have received nothing yet.”
The wet soil pushes its hot breath back
at me, and the humid smooth grass
waves me onward responding,
“Don’t stop now. There is work
yet to do.
Go,
do it.
Spread the word.
Save us.
Save her.
Before there is nothing left
to save.”

 

Tansy Julie the Soaring Eagle Paschold

5.23.24

Even Better: a poem

 

Even Better

 

Even better than a plodding 3-toed land-locked

emu is to imagine yourself the white feathered

egret, soaring above rivers into skies & clouds

eternal holding their droplets of dew; no boundaries.

 

Even better than the rangeland’s wool-covered cluster of

ewes is to step heavy into wrinkled footprints of an

elephant, these giants lumbering gracefully,

elegant despite their size, with large clear knowing

eyes.

 

Even better than racing the clock, saving the world from some

existential crisis is to prevent the chaos from

enveloping our world, cloaking the innocents,

eating all inhabitants in its wake. With

each beating of our civilized hearts, we

erect barriers to our Mother Nature, the

earth who birthed us all. In the name of

energy we are zapping the sun’s rays hotter,

excrement filling our oceans, ice caps melting,

ending mighty glaciers that collapse and crash.

 

Even better than waiting for that magical day, an

event that

erases our

errors of the past, some heavenly formation of the

exoskeleton we have destroyed, instability

eroding our ozone no longer, wanting more than an

ethereal gauze hazing our future, we

eventually need to face ourselves, to stand

either together or never again, to rid the

ether of lies we inhale to hide our truths,

exit the past of our destruction, join as

equals with our Mother. Respect our resources,

eyes no longer

eclipsed to the glorious

eternity we may offer,

ere this planet and all on it

ends.

 ***

Tansy Julie the Soaring Eagle Paschold

4.10.24

 

WD April 2024 Challenge # 10 ____________Better & Write Now #41: begin each line w/ “E”