In The Woods

A savage wind lashes the tree
tops sending them swaying
in the winter woods
a tone poem of trunks
clacking against one another
punctuating the low rushing
roar of the wind as it
rages against the forest canopy
sending last year's crop of
juvenile crows into a
synchronized spurt of black
dervishes high in the sky
interrupting their impudent
raging croaks directed at an
owl perched on the crooked
bare mast of a dead pine
unperturbed by the crows' 
challenges to a maestro of raw
and deadly rapacity beyond and
above their role as opportunists
mere carrion-eaters lacking the
will and the skill to swoop
upon oblivious prey, their
deadly talons and beak
formidable to their task. One
nocturnal the other diurnal
nature investing them with 
unequal qualities; the hunters
and their clever tormentors.

Feminist Justin

By no means is the pleasure
evinced from admiration from
another the proprietary reaction
necessarily of one gender over 
another but females it is safe to
say do indulge in the delectation
of receiving praise and notice
from men reacting according to
the emotive codes that nature 
has endowed them with so very

inextricably linked with sex in

its most primal instincts as yet

another endowment for survival

of the human race. Most men

react positively to expectations

of submissiveness, while others

make the mistake of admiring

women of poise and strength of

character, professing their very

personal inclination in honouring

feminism often reflecting in

very point of fact an overweening

need to attract admiration to their

confidence in extolling female

virtues as their very own thus

commanding esteem for their

personal principles. Sometimes 

it is men wielding power who use

the acclaim they gain with an

assurance that women they elevate

will be swift to support all their

positions in matters where ethical

conduct is questioned, only to 

have their fantasies destroyed

by condemnation by the very

women whom their influence has

raised to public acclaim. Proving

that flattery will never bear

acquiescence over principle, a

sometimes-female prerogative.

 

 

The Ocean of Life

The human tide
ebbs and flows like the
vast ocean of life it represents
flooding hospital corridors
clinics, emergency areas
in an endless epidemic
of age, disability, disease
and chronic, inherited illness.
The frail, the feeble of mind
and of body, they swamp
the capacity of medical
science in their eager
desperation to live as
part of the human ocean
of existence. They appear
in all sizes and age groups
the exoticism of their
imagery second of notice
to their need evident in
their halting gait
the lost expression their
eyes reflect of their minds
and their souls, this
teeming ocean of humanity.

Nature's Vitriol

Man proposes, Nature disposes ... this is
the natural order of things, that in all
matters of existence it is nature herself
that has the last word. Given a choice who
wouldn't prefer to live by the sea, alongside
a forest, in a valley in the shadow of majestic
mountains? Somewhere in the world there
are those who haven't a choice and this is
where they live, within forests, under the
shade of a sleeping volcano, beside the
endless ocean in exotic landscapes where
when the earth itself shrugs its submerged
plates tsunamis emerge in response, and
when the pressure of the planet's interior
heat builds to a crescendo, fiery hot lava 
spumes over the landscape no less than
do tropical monsoons dredge the sides
of mountains loosing boulders to produce
deadly rockslides.... These are, after all
Nature's precincts where her creatures live
and in so doing become vulnerable to her
vibrantly volatile wrath on those occasions
when she sets aside her benevolent nature.
Those among us who choose to live by the 
sea, mesmerized by its rhythmic murmuration
or at the cusp of a forest, loving the sight of
venerable trees and the mysteries of imagining
the creatures we share the landscape with also
become vulnerable to unstoppable wildfires
scorching everything and everyone in their
path, to voluminous rainfalls without end
swelling lakes and rivers so scenic otherwise
becoming a threat to life and property, in 
revealing such lifestyle choices' propensity
to irritate the elements doing Nature's bidding.

Facade

As base metal lacks the fine
properties of the more refined ores
subject to corrosion and tarnishing
so too does the mettle of a personality
lend itself to a corruption of ethical
values, quick to tarnish the reputation
of others guilty of having attained
a higher plane of integrity both
personal and professional. The petty
mind indulges in envious scorn
of the elevated plateau of generosity
of spirit indulging preferentially in
schadenfraude at any opportunity to
avenge itself on its moral superiors
preferring to highlight the trivial
borders of facade at which they 
become extraordinarily skilled as
social and entertainment celebrities
loathe to share fame's serendipitous
spotlight with those whose contributions
to the public weal far surpass their own
focused on titillation and popular
acclaim on the stage as opposed to
the lessons of lectern and laboratory.

Joy

Like a divinely-inspired
whirling dervish
a frantic perpetual motion
machine the tiny terrier
new to life and to the
hedonistic pleasures of 
whipping hither and yon
along forest trails
delving into shaded areas
of the forest floor
chasing the beams of sunlight
illuminating the newfallen
snow, digging impulsively
through the soft, white
layers on the pathways
indulging in leaps and bounds
in the sheer exultant pleasure
of existence followed by
an indulgent human
chuckling in a veritable
transport of delight
the puppy acquainted itself
with an unfamiliar landscape.
A wonder to behold
thought onlookers as they passed.
Not so other, older dogs
loping past, tending to view
the puppy with alarm and to
back away whenever it
bounced close to make 
new friends, they uncertain
and it determined unaware
of canine conventions
while they had forgotten
the impulses and compulsion
of celebrating life when
they too were once young.

Compassion Stillborn

It is quite possible to feel compassion
tinged with the satisfaction of knowing
it is not yourself consigned to an elderly
position of dependency - not yet but
eventually. This is not a measure of
one's humanity for we all have our
faults, forgivable depending upon the
level of transgression against others
those faults may represent. That elderly
neighbour whom you've known for a
generation whose physical condition
degenerated to the point of institutional
care in his 'golden years' though he
declares contentment to be there and
sends emails to those his wit formerly
rapiered causing him great amusement
a  case in point. You recall how your 
husband's faltering condition once
when recovering from a dire health
emergency brought from his sardonic
mind a stinging string of witticisms and
you now recoil at the very idea of making
a neighbourly effort to lighten his days
by your occasional presence where the
stultifying days pass one after another
and surely the forgiving presence of
an acquaintance would provide a lift.
That memory however, reminds you 
that as one chooses to navigate the
seas of friendship in time rebounds
when storms erupt -- and you decline.