NOXIOUS
From slippery soil sold to suckers one toxic seed
Surreptitiously erupts into weed that strengthens and swells,
Set to spread ruinous, endless seed in paradise.
At the touch untrained gardeners risk suffering and death,
So experts come at their leisure to extract the monster.
By then it’s too late.
Seeds have multiplied the alien’s reach and gardeners live in fear forever.
Goodbye Garden of Eden.
Hello sin and giant hogweed hell.
GUARDIANS
In summer guardians affect delight
They emerge during moist heat and sunlight
Protecting all from stinging foes in flight
Equipped with skilled wings against looming bite
Gentle patrols grace air with dance and might
Their colours vary, splendour subject to sight
Their appearance gives some startle and fright
Their name mythical, noble, plinth of height
Fearless, friendly, calm resting on hand right
Kind allies in summer’s bloodthirsty fight
THE FATE OF HATE
Don’t we hate it when people hate
It’s much like a swollen prostate
Or a rupturing appendix,
Perhaps sepsis. That’s hard to fix.
But whatever dams our being
Seldom spreads beyond self-bleeding.
Hate harms the hater and others
Friends, family, sisters, brothers.
Arrows pierce the archer’s own soul
Without love we’ll never be whole
Anguish is inevitable
But hate is so avoidable
Vain vengeance brings its own defeat
When mad hate and destruction meet.
Yet Wisdom calls; ears don’t hear
Eyes cannot see; souls do not fear.
MOUSE
There’s a mouse in our house
Where there’s one, there are more
The house, the shelter of humans,
Cannot abide the invaders
Those unthinking venture capitalists
They enter through holes
As small as a quarter
Making their winter home inside a human home
Eating through wood and enjoying human heat
Running to the kitchen in search of food,
Leaving evidence that they found some.
Traps sometimes catch them,
Other times they feed the rodents
Poison is injudicious for predators of mice
Then summer comes and mice go camping.
During that vacation time humans try to plug holes
To prevent next fall’s infiltration.
They endure, survive, and thrive.