Places

"There is no there there."

I know this to be true

for when I go there

I am now 'here',

neither nowhere nor there

but here, and at best

in this moment

the finest place.

Quotation by Gertrude Stein from Everybody's Autobiography

Unrequited Joy

She has a certain something

or more correctly stated

there is something about her

something so beautiful

     it can't be expressed in words

and thus makes the heart ache

in unrequited joy.

I've Much To Learn

From My Cats

I was needy today

so Gabby climbed in my lap

     to deliver a kneading.

She seemed quite content

to ply my soft belly with light steps

and to nuzzle my whiskered chin.

and distraught by my intentions to write.

She wished not to debate my problems,

didn't truly demand I return her affection,

just content to tenderize my tummy.

And then it occurs to me -

Were I to be more intent on planting virtues

I should be less in need

of uprooting vices.

Fewer Desires

I feel some things less intensely

than when I tarried near the front

and my listless old smile

and bitter knowledge of what was

          has gone away

carried with it as it crossed

what I feared, and much

          of what I desired.

There are few things left to desire;

a yellow and fragrant rose bush

          outside my window

or perhaps gardenias

          and night-blooming jasmine.