To a Quail
Dear running one, be swift! Behold the one
who models you: the Runner of the Road!
Do not let that fake landfowl make your run
the lesser, or make silly how you’ve strode!
He is, perhaps, the faster; but you, sir
are more experienced in this pursuit.
Your kind run more roads than there ever were
of their ilk taking the same crossroad route.
I know–I’ve watched as, every single day,
you and your flock take such a speedy flight
by feet across the crosswalk and walkway
across the road by day and by dark night.
Just since something is not within your name
does not mean you’re not master of the same.
~~~
To a Rhinoceros
Sweet thing—please rest here. Let your panic go,
and settle into gentle-eyed respite.
I’ll hold your head until the fears you know
are gone, and you no longer have to fight.
I know that look of yours. I know so well
what all too many see only as ire,
but is a sweet heart wrapped in a hard shell,
that has too oft been too close to the fire.
God was good to give you that horn, I say.
For, though many who could hold you do not,
the ones who will will not let their fear sway
the way they’ll guard you and your every thought.
Let me do that. I would carry your horn.
Your heart has oft been shattered. Tender. Torn.